Toy Soldier
by 7thManiac
Summary: 11 years after his disappearance the Third Child has been located in Europe. As Misato is sent by NERV to retrieve him she doesn't find a young week willed boy and instead she finds a surgically modified, highly trained and experienced killing machine wearing the skin of a 14 year old child. Will Shinji stay a lethal weapon? Or become something more? M for Violence and adult themes
1. Prologue: Gunslinger Boy

**PROLOGUE: GUNSLINGER BOY**

**NERV HQ, Tokyo-3, Japan**

Looking out my office window I can see my kingdom, my domain. The Geofront, the massive underground cavern underneath Tokyo-3, home to NERV HQ, where I will ensure my plan's success…to be together soon with my wife Yui, we will be together soon love.

"Sorry to interrupt you, Commander Ikari," my secretary said, her voice coming from the intercom on my desk, and breaking me out of my thoughts. She was skilled at her work, always seemed to have a knack for breaking me out of my idle thoughts and getting my mind back on work.

"What is it?" I replied after turning back to my desk and away from the window.

"Vice-commander Fuyutsuki wishes to meet with you sir, he says it's a priority-1 report from intelligence."

"Send him in," I answered.

As the double doors unlocked with an audible click and swung open, I watched NERV's Vice-commander, my second, my old sensei and the closest thing I have to a friend walk into my office. Dressed in his black NERV uniform, grey hair tidily swept back, the click clack of his shoes echoing in the dark cavernous room. The design of my office was designed to intimidate any fool who walked into the office, the room was dark and far too large for its purpose, the light from the Geofront beaming through the window behind me and outlining my silhouette, an effective tactic that seemed to have earned myself a few unsavory nicknames among the staff.

Kozo Fuyutsuki though wasn't perturbed in the least, as he walked in. He came up and in front of my desk and put down a Manila paper envelope as he sat on one of the chairs in front of me.

Not bothering to look into its contents, lest they be unimportant, I wait for him to start.

"We found him Gendo," he said. His voice was stern, I guess this was important after all. He continued, "We found your son, the Third Child has been located."

That caused me to raise my brows and my eyes to widen, even with my well-practiced poker face that managed to catch me off guard. The Third Child had been missing for eleven years, almost right after I abandoned him to a relative in order to concentrate on reuniting with my Yui, he and his uncle were involved in an accident a month after I left him. While his uncle was indeed dead, and the child also confirmed dead on arrival, NERV could not track down the body. Suspicious and frustrating, NERV even in its infancy should be able to track down a dead child's body, and even if he was deceased it could still be used to clone a pilot for Unit-01.

"This is promising news Fuyutsuki, where did this information come from?" I asked.

Furrowing his brows he replied, "Actually intelligence decided to contact foreign governments for information on the boy, a desperate attempt I know but the European Union let us know that he currently lives within their borders…once the Marduk Institute informed them of his status as an Evangelion pilot and therefore crucial to the survival of humanity that is."

"The leak of his identity is an acceptable trade-off for his location, inform intelligence to make sure that the information doesn't spread, " I ordered and Fuyutsuki simply nods in acknowledgement. Why is he in Europe? I wonder. "Fuyutsuki, why is he in Europe? And why did this search take over a decade? The MAGIs in Germany should have access to EU files, he should have been found by now. If the European Union was unaware of his use as an Evangelion pilot then I can't think of why they would take him, unless the old men want to mess with my plans and decided to throw their influence around. "

"No, SEELE had no involvement from what we can tell, our plans are safe. That being said this is where it gets ugly," he explains, "Shinji was picked up by the European Human Welfare Agency."

I raise a brow, why would a European government agency take in a Japanese child?

Futsuki leaned forward and continued, "Gendo the EHWA is a front, and it doesn't exist, not really. To the public they're an EU government agency that takes in children with _severe_ injuries that are too severe to treat via normal means and uses advanced and experimental treatments and procedures to treat them."

"They aren't doing any of that is what your saying? Still what use to them is that child?" I asked.

"No they do just that...well they do take in severely injured children. The treatment they receive _is_ advanced. That said; remember the EHWA is a front. In reality, according to what Intelligence can find, they belong to The European Union Internal Security Agency. Specifically they belong to their Division 3, from what we can gather they specialize in using cyborgs for wet work."

"I assume these cyborgs are the children?"

"Yes," he replied and his face crinkles obviously disgusted at the thought. "According to Doctor Akagi any kind of cybernetic implants respond better to the still developing nervous systems of children."

"I understand. What has the EU said about handing over custody of the Third Child?"

"They said he will be made possible to transfer to our care as soon as we send someone to handle the transfer."

"Good, send word to Captain Katsuragi and tell her to prepare to leave via VTOL to-"

"London, UK is where he's stationed," Fuyutsuki interjects, possible remembering he forgot to mention where the child is located exactly.

"Yes have her ready to depart by 0900 tomorrow for London. Have her take someone under Dr. Akagi to make sure the modifications to the Third Child do not negatively affect his ability to pilot Unit-01."

With a nod Fuyutsuki left my office, leaving me again to my thoughts. Yes this is good, _very _good; with prior combat training and experience he will be a more effective tool and will hopefully limit damages to Unit-01 in the battles to come. Soon Yui, I will meet you again soon.

Smiling to myself as I turn to look back out the window, looks like my son will be a useful pawn afterall.

**HHHHHHH**

**London, UK**

Sitting in a small café and staring out the window and onto the rainy streets of London I can't help but remember the past or what little I can of mine, one of the more annoying side-effects of the conditioning we were given is memory loss so I'm at least fortunate to remember _anything _really, though sometimes I can't help but want to forget everything like the others.

Thinking back to that fateful rainy day more than a decade ago, walking with a drunk of an uncle down a street, it was pouring that day. We were walking home and as we turned a corner a car slammed into the both of us, pinning my abusive bastard of an uncle's corpse to the wall while I remember being sent flying several metres down the street and into a bus stop's shelter. I remember lying in a pool of my own warm blood, the feeling of broken ribs and four shattered limbs, and I remember being glad that I was at least out of the rain for some reason. I guess the old me was a bit of an optimist…or a _lot_ of an optimist.

Farther back I remember being on…a train station? Yes, I was in a train standing close to the door, staring up at a man wearing orange tinted sunglasses, his hair and beard was scruffy and he was wearing a long brown coat. In my memories his mouth is moving but I can only remember a few words, "you have no purpose." His tone was cold as ice, was such a man really my father? What kind of person abandons their kin to a drunk? Knowing how all the others have equally…unsavory pasts, no person is selected by The Agency as a cyborg candidate without being on death's door after all, I think I would prefer not to remember anything like the others.

Then there is my oldest memory. Flashes of brown hair, piercing loving green eyes…and _that smile_, a smile that has nothing but happiness, caring and love…a pure smile with no hidden meaning behind it. Mother…yes my mother, what little I remember of her at least. My one good memory of my old self, the only reason I'm glad I still have these three old memories. Even if the other two are horrible at least one is good right?

"Hullo? Shiiin? Little Brother?" A voice snaps me out of my musings. Turning to the source of the voice I see her, Ferro Ackerman my half Italian half British handler. Her short brown hair, dark brown eyes and suit emanating a strong business woman persona, funny in that when out of work she's as informal as they come.

"Yes sister?" I respond in a flat tone.

"Stop, normal kids don't talk in that tone," she chastised me.

Taking a sip of my coffee, "I'm not normal, sister."

She lets out a small sigh and too takes a sip of her coffee, "true but I didn't raise you to be…like them _outside_ of work."

She's right, while she has tried to limit the amount of conditioning I receive to the minimum The Agency would let her, she has tried to raise me like a civilian outside of our working lives. She would sometimes complain about how the drugs we get dull our emotions, I don't really see what the problem is though. I've heard some people find it hard to kill another person, if that's what normal people feel and think then I don't get her problem. If I can't kill someone then what use to her am I?

Besides the only real strong emotions I remember feeling is the ones from my memories and my love for my sister, what else do I need? Why would I want something that will get in the way of me being able to be useful to her?

"Sorry sis," I apologize to her with a small honest smile. I would never want to make her unhappy.

"It's ok, now why were you staring out the window? Oh! Did you see a pretty girl?! If you want I can track her down? Arrange a date maybe?" She asks, seemingly wanting to jump for joy at the thought of me being interested in another woman but herself. She's also apparently also missing the implications of using her position in a secret government agency to track down a civilian.

Looking back out the window I answer, "No sister, just remembering…well my memories." Finishing my coffee I add, "Of my old self."

"I see, " she says, I can't see her face but I know she's waiting for me to continue.

So I do, "sister? What was my old name?"

"Your real name is Shinji Ikari, although since you were born in Japan it would be Ikari Shinji since they put their surnames in front. Actually that's where I got your name from; I just shortened your first name."

"Why do you want me to only take the minimum amount of…_medicine_?" I ask, making sure to keep any mentions of what The Agency does to us covered up in case of any curious civilians.

"Because I don't agree with how the others are raised."

"To be more normal," I whisper.

"Exactly, I know…your memories aren't all roses and sunshine Shin. God only knows what happened, I saw what you were like when I picked you up but it's a part of you Shin. Like your real name, hell I wouldn't have changed it if I had my way," she whispers. She reaches out to hold one of my hands, bringing my attention to her. She looks me in the eyes and continues, "Shin you're a good kid, and remember you ARE my brother, blood ties BE-DAMNED."

I Look away from her to hide a light blush, am I happy? Yes my sister cares for me, I have someone who genuinely cares for me. I should be happy.

"…I see."

I can't help but think she's smiling right now.

**HHHHHHH**

**European Human Welfare Agency- UK Branch Waiting Room**

This sucks, I hate you Commander Ikari you know that? Seriously, calling me at 9pm and telling me to pack get ready to make a trip to London in 12 hours. Poor Maya, I ended up calling the poor girl at midnight and telling her to come with me, lucky for me she's a real trooper. Now here we are and half way across the globe to pick up the Commander's son, knowing the father I'm not going to like the kid.

I really hope that 'being a bastard' isn't a genetic trait.

Looking around the waiting room we're in it looks…normal. When we were getting briefed about what the EHWA's real purpose is I would think their office would look more…sci-fi? No kids with cameras and guns attached walking around, actually all I've seen look like normal office people. Only people not wearing a dress shirt and tie are Maya and I in our NERV uniforms, no civilians in the waiting room either just the receptionist who lead us hear.

Looking at Maya sitting beside me absorbed in a fashion magazine I can't help but smile, poor girl got dragged last minute and hear she is wide awake and looking professional. I guess working under Rits doing science stuff into the late hours made her a good choice. Hell I'm not afraid to admit I pulled myself together well enough. Black dress shirt and white tie? Check. Black skirt? Check. Styling red NERV officer's jacket and beret? Check and Check.

Looking back at Maya and her tan skirt, zipped up tan NERV jacket and beret I can't help wonder how her uniform is wrinkle free after falling asleep on the VTOL in that..._interesting_ position strapped to her seat. I wonder if the techs with Project-E have some kind of special uniforms? Maybe something taken from EVA tech? I should ask Rits about that, a wrinkle free uniform would be great after a night of..._relaxing_ with a _bit_ and only a bit of alcohol.

"Captain Katsuragi?" The receptionist asks, getting Maya and I's attention.

"Yes?"

"Follow this gentleman here and he will take you to one of our consultation rooms," she says, gesturing at a man in a black suit standing behind her.

Getting up we both follow him through the office space of the EHWA. As we walk past I can't help but wonder, once again, how normal it all looks. Cubicles, office workers, water coolers.

"It's…so normal," Maya said to me as she slowly looked around the various rooms and hallways we walked were guided through.

Before I have a chance to say something the man stops at the end of a hallway in front of the door. On the door is a sign that I can't read, I knew I should have paid attention in English classes back in Germany.

As if to sense my ineptitude of the native tongue Maya speaks up, "consultation room number seven?" Turning to the man she asks, "is this where we are going to meet him?"

"Yes ma'am," he answers and opens the door. "One of our people will be with you shortly."

Walking into the room and taking a look around as the door closes behind us. It's a nice office, warm brown wood walls with an expensive looking desk with two chairs in front of it at the centre. A few books on childhood development line the shelves...actually more than a few. If it was something like expensive decor I might think someone was over compensating for something.

"Ma'am I don't think most places would have _that_ many books on that topic," Maya says as she sits down and I follow suit soon after. "Regardless of the fact this place focuses on children."

"I agree, for the first time something in the place feels…off," I respond. Taking in more of the room I see on the desk is a name plate that reads 'Ferro Ackerman-Field Consultant,' and I assume that that's who owns this office and who will be meeting us shortly.

What really felt off though is the smell, its faint and I doubt Maya noticed but I can smell gun powder and lubricant. Well I was looking for signs of what this place is really used for and here it is. Using kids as assassins? Ugh, I hate being right sometimes.

Just as I finish that thought the door behind us opens and me and Maya both turn to face our host. In walks in a woman with an average build, same height as I am, and has short brown hair and dark brown eyes. Wearing a suit she seems like the 'pure business type'…great.

Behind her walks in a boy, around 13-15 years of age with brown hair and dark deep blue eyes. He's dressed with black jeans, black shoes, white dress shirt with a blood red tie and a black unzipped hoodie over it all. Walking in he quickly glances at Maya and I and then following the woman in. It was a glance that made my blood run cold and also have to suppress a shiver . Such a cold look from a young child, there was no innocence in his gaze, just a cold and calculating...aura for the lack of a better word. I'm guessing he's a cyborg, and I suppose he's checking how big a threat we might be…still that was a gaze more akin to that of a targeting camera and not human's. It didn't see us as people, just something to align up the cross hairs with and destroy. And I thought the Commander's gaze was scary. Looking at Maya I can see she was as scared of that look as I was, though she's quickly getting herself composed.

As the woman sits down and introduces herself in perfect Japanese as Agent Ferro Ackerman of the European Union Internal Security Agency's Division 3, I notice the boy stand slightly behind her and to her left; he's obviously her cyborg now since he's taken a position ready to guard her. Then it dawns on me, that's him, that kid is Shinji. I can see a bit of resemblance between him and the Commander, hell he even looks like the picture the MAGI put together using old photos and aging him up to 14 years old. Nothing like how I thought the cyborgs would look like, like everything else in this building he looks so normal, gaze of a targeting camera aside that is. No machine parts sticking out or glowing red eyes, technology sure has come a long way. Then again I shouldn't be surprised, the EVAs are damn impressive themselves.

Putting my musings aside I introduce myself, "It is good to meet you Agent Ackerman; I am Captain Misato Katsuragi the Operations Director at NERV headquarters." I hope I sounded calm and professional, the look that kid is giving us is still making me nervous even though hes eased up on us. Still, have to get this show on the road so I gesture to Maya to introduce herself as well.

"I am First Lieutenant Maya Ibuki from NERV research and development," Maya introduced herself with a little lie, Project E is top secret after all so introducing herself as part of R&amp;D was a good choice. What really impressed me though was the small smile she gave at the boy, didn't seem to affect him but she did far better than me in showing calmness. I knew she was a good choice.

"Now Shin introduce yourself to the two beautiful women," said Agent Ackerman as she gave her partner a warm smile, which to my surprise caused him to ease up and seem like a normal-ish 14 year old kid. The gaze of a targeting computer mostly gone now and causing me to release a breath I didn't I held in. Turning back to us he gave a small bow and introduced himself.

"I am Unit-03 of The European Union Internal Security Agency Division 3's second generation cyborgs, I go by the alias Shin, it is a pleasure to meet you both," he introduces himself in a flat tone, also in perfect Japanese. Great he's more robotic than Rei, are all the EVA pilots so weird?

"Now now," Agent Ackermann says looking at her cyborg, "I told you that from now on you're going by your real name, Shinji Ikari, correct?"

"Yes sister," he flatly replies.

Shaking her head our host turns her attention back to Maya and I and gives us a small but honest smile. "I'm sorry he's a bit…shy around strangers," she explains. "Now I would prefer to show you proper English hospitality and get to know you both better before I hand my precious Shinji over to you, I am afraid that we must skip the pleasantries if what needs to be done will be completed at the day's end. I am aware NERV is on a short schedule correct?"

"That is correct Agent Ackerman," I reply. "Um out of curiosity why are you both able to speak Japanese? So well too, Shinji I understand but you as well Ms. Ackerman?"

"Please call me Ferro, and I picked up Japanese quickly once I decided to pick up Shinji here to make sure we didn't have any communication issues before he learned English. As it turns out the conditioning we give them instilled them the knowledge to read and write in English, I ended up having to reteach him Japanese myself. It's a part of his heritage, I even force him to speak only Japanese at home much to his chagrin," she explained. "Now, The Agency has already completed most of the paper work that is required for the transfer of Shinji to NERV. I have also already briefed him of the reason for the transfer and have prepared everything required for his move to Japan, including his luggage. All that needs to be done is for you and I to sign the agreement papers."

This is good; I know the Commander wants him back ASAP to get him synced up with Unit-01 since with Rei's injury when Unit-00 went berserk we are down all of our EVA pilots in Japan. But what was that about conditioning? Is that like Brainwashing? I can't think of another way you can just know a language like that…great now I really want to go home. Brain washed killer robot ninja kids are things I want to forget, preferably with alcohol.

"But," Ferro says holding her hand up before I can say anything, "I want you to do something for me before I trust my little Shin over to you two."

Oh no I hope she's not hoping for a NERV favor or something.

"NERV will try to accommodate you to the best of our abilities," I assure her. Let's hope she's reasonable.

"No you misunderstand me," she says shaking her head. "I want YOU two to do something for me. I just want you two to…understand what you're getting. Now Miss Ibuki and Miss Katsuragi you both seem like good people, people with a conscience, so I'm going to trust my ability to judge people and trust you two. But first you have to agree, understood?"

Maya and I both lean in. "Are you asking us to keep this off NERV's books Miss Ferro?" Maya asks, looking at me with a bit of concern. I for one share her sentiments, this can lead to something…ugly.

"Yes," Ferro replies giving a quick nod, "now what do you two say?"

"We understand," Maya and I reply, this was too important, NERV needs an operational EVA pilot if an Angel makes landfall. Still what did we get ourselves into?

"Good," says the good Agent with a satisfied smile on her face. Getting up she gestures for us to stand, "follow me ladies, this should only take a few hours."

**HHHHHHH**

Walking down a hallway at the European Human Welfare Agency building I can't help but notice the…feeling of this part of the building was different. It didn't resemble a normal office space anymore, no generic paintings and pictures decorate the stark white walls and the doors have turned from the warm wood doors like in Ferro's office to strong metal doors. This is the real face of the EHWA, the part that no civilians likely ever see, Misato-san and I are now in the halls of the European Union Internal Security Agency's Division 3.

A short 5 minute walk later and we arrive at 40m by 40m room with a projector hanging off the ceiling and aimed at the wall to the left. On the right wall is a table and 5 lockers with several boxes of ammunition on the floor under the table. The room was labeled 'Ready Room 107' and according to Ferro this was the designated briefing/debriefing and prep room for her and Shinji.

The projector turned on and Agent Ferro moved to stand in front of the wall to the left, pointer in hand.

"Shinji go get ready," she ordered. Shinji silently as ever walked over to the opposite side of the room as her as she called out to Misato-san and I to get our attention.

"Now ladies leave him be, you'll have plenty of time to get to know each other. For now he knows what he has to do, you two pay attention to me and I'll go over what we're going to do," she explained.

As she explained what her plan was I couldn't help but wonder, what the hell have you gotten yourself into Maya?!

Agent Ferro's plan was for Captain Katsuragi and I to act as a substitute handler for Shinji, a role she said we will take on for real when Shinji is transferred over to NERV. We are to go to a rundown apartment complex near the southern edge of London, once we arrive we are to head to the apartment 1602 which houses several separatist terrorists and pretend to be a pair of reporters. Once they open the door, whether to shoo us away or abduct us or kills us didn't matter as Shinji will use that opening to storm the apartment and…neutralize the targets. What was the point? To show us that we're receiving a killing machine and not a person? I already knew that when I was briefed back in Japan, and I confirmed it with my own eyes when my gaze met his. Sempai why did you let Misato take me? Give Hyuga away next time! He's gaga over Misato-san anyway. I can't help but sigh to myself.

Maya you lived a straight life. Went through school, never dated or drank all the way to graduation from university. You graduated with honours, a genius sempai recruits you for NERV to help protect humanity and even climbed the ladder to be Doctor Akagi's second. And now for some reason your about to given the leash to a murder machine…great.

"Alright that will be all, I need to ready a car so I need to go," Agent Ferro said as she finished her briefing. Turning to Shinji, "Shinji be a dear and lead them to the car pool ok?"

"Yes sister," he replied.

As I watch her walk out a tap on my shoulder from behind sends me jumping out of my seat. Turning around I see…Shinji. He was dressed the same as before except over his dress shirt and tie he had a light grey vest with pouches for magazines on them (and of course they were full) with his hoodie worn over it. In his hand was a…guitar case?

Oh crap I don't want to see that scary glare again. Breacing myself I look up from his vest to his face and I see…concern? It's so feint that I'm not sure if I'm seeing things. He's been like a robot all day.

"Um…Lieutenant Ibuki?" He asks looking up to meet my eyes. His eyes are so…blue and…look so human now.

"Y-yes Shinji?" I ask trying, and probably failing, to keep my fear of the boy hidden.

He reaches inside his hoodie and pools out...a pistol?! I hear Captain Katsuragi gasp behind me but can't look away from the boy, fear taking me. Is he going to shoot me?!

Just as I think that and before he could even point his pistol at me he removes the magazine and pulls the slide back and ejecting the chambered round before putting the stray round into the magazine and decocking the hammer. He then flips it in his hand so the grip is facing me and gestures it towards me. I also see he has a shoulder holster in his left hand.

"I have noticed that Captain Katsuragi is carrying a H&amp;K USP in her shoulder holster. You seem to be lacking a firearm Lieutenant Ibuki and in the case that you would need to defend yourself you will be unable to do so, to be prepared for that possibility I would like to lend mine," he explains. He reaches out with his left hand with the shoulder holster and magazine. Was he worried for my safety?

Thanking him and putting on the holster first before taking the pistol and magazine and hold them gently with the magazine in my left and pistol in my right hand.

"Wow…that's a nice gun Shinji-kun. SIG-Sauer P226R, good taste." said Misato who has walked over and is now peeking over my shoulder. "Shinji-kun NERV standard issue side arms are Glock 17s so you'll need to give her a quick once over later in the car."

"Of course Captain Katsuragi," he replies.

Smiling at him she corrects him, "please just call me Misato."

She wasn't lying, it was an absolutely be beautiful hand gun, and I'm not that kind of girl whose into stuff like this. Giving it a good look over in my hands it had a flawless stainless steel finish and beautiful wooden grips. I can see he's taken good care of it, doesn't look like it's been used at all, although knowing what he does I'm sure its seen heavy use. For what I assume is a well used firearm it was immaculate. It looked like a custom order with almost no manufacturer's markings except what was engraved on the frame above the accessory rail which read "SIG-Sauer P226R Stainless Katana Custom .45 ACP"

What really caught my attention though was what was engraved on the slide. On the left side of the slide was a prayer in graceful cursive writing. On the opposite side was a message engraved in the same style as the prayer.

"In you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, or let my enemies triumph over me- Psalm 25:2," I read out quietly before turning it over to the other side.

"My little one may your aim be true and may this let you protect what you hold dear," I also read out.

"It was a gift from my sister," Shinji explained. That surprised Misato and myself a little, he hasn't really started a conversation prior to handing me his pistol. He continued, "I received it as a gift on my 5th birthday, I was to start my training the day after. It's a custom piece; they don't even chamber the P226 in .45 ACP. Since us cyborgs can handle recoil better than humans it was judged a waste for us to use smaller caliber hand gun rounds."

"Couldn't she just have bought a model that was made in that caliber?" I ask, this could be a good opportunity to get to know him a bit. He doesn't seem to be as unsociable as I thought. Although I don't like how he seemed to separate himself from normal people.

"It was originally…my sister's," he explains and was that…a blush? If it was it was _really_ light but he seemed to be a bit embarrassed since he turned away from us. A faint smile on his face as he continued, "It…was the first birthday I can remember due to memory loss so she wanted it to be special. It was originally her pistol when she served in Division 2. She…said it protected her so now it will protect me. She got it rechambered, engraved and had the grips replaced. It's the first ever present I know I've ever gotten…she has a matching one in 9mm." He smile grew ever so slightly when he mentioned that its his first ever gift and that Ferro has a matching pistol before quickly going back to his normal almost bored expression.

Wow. And he let me borrow it? Misato and I look at each other and I'm sure we came to the same conclusion, that he wasn't what we were expecting.

"Shinji thank you, I'll take good care of it," I thanked him, giving him a warm smile, "and please call me Maya"

Looking up at me his eyes seemed to widen a bit and a ghost of a smile formed on his lips.

"I'm counting on you Maya-san."

**HHHHHHH**

**Southern Outskirts of London**

Here we are, almost time to start work. Looking at Misato-san and Maya-san walking in front of me as we approach the targets' door I see that they're quietly going over their role in this mission, checking over myself I make sure that my hoodie is zipped up properly to hide my combat vest. It feels strange walking around without my SIG but Maya-san needs to be armed, just in case.

The job is simple, Misato-san and Maya-san who have changed into suits, will pretend to be a pair of reporters poking around for some random interest story. My orders are to treat them the same as Ferro-nee, listen to their orders and protect them with my life. Be their shield and sword. Once the door opens I'll move to storm and eliminate everyone in the apartment.

As we close in on the door, conveniently at the end of the hall, I stop three meters before the door and out of sight of the door's peep whole. While I am dressed as a civilian it would be strange for reporters to bring their little brother to a decrepit and mostly abandoned apartment building.

Maya-san seems to be a bit nervous, yes she did mention she was a scientist or some such and its easy to assume she has no real combat experience. Having her nervous may be dangerous.

"Maya-san," I softly call out, "I WILL protect you. _Please_ relax."

Giving me a quick smile and a nod she quickly relaxes and moves up to knock on the door. As they talk to a voice on the other side of the door and feed him their made up story I tighten my grip on the guitar case slung over my shoulder and tense my leg and arm muscles. Bringing my breathing under control I ready myself. Like a viper coiling itself into an 'S' shape before striking I make my body like a spring, ready to strike like lightning at a moment's notice.

Then the door opens and a man slams the door closed before quickly grabbing Maya by the collar and attempts to push her into the wall. Adrenaline flows into my veins as I feel anger rise up in me, how dare he even _try_ to hurt my handler. Like a viper going in for the bite I release the tension in my muscles and shoot forwards. I rush him and shrug the guitar case off my right shoulder and grab the handle with my right hand, covering the distance with no effort I swing the end of the guitar case and aim for the side of his head. To his credit he quickly turns his head toward me as his instincts kick in and lets go of Maya to grab the Tokarev stuffed in the back of his pants, too slow and too late.

CRUNCH! SPLAT! SNAP!

The tip of the hard guitar case slams into his face with far more force than somebody of my build should be able to generate. His face caves in slightly sending blood, bone and teeth flying as the force of the swing turns his head almost 360 degrees snapping his neck.

While his body is still air born I turn towards the door and with my left hand I unzip my sweater and giving me access to the magazines on my vest. My right hand presses the switch on the handle to open the guitar case, it opens and my left hand grabs the barrel of my weapon of choice. A black AS VAL suppressed assault rifle, other than a red dot sight clipped on the optics rail, there are no special custom features as my cyborg implants render a flashlight or laser or any kind of grips redundant. In a one smooth motion I unfold the stock and disengage the safety as I grip the weapon with both hands. Time to make myself useful.

I kick in the door just as the first man hits the hallway floor dead, in front of me is a small entry way leading to the living room and I see two men on a sofa against the far wall. I let out a 6 round burst at 900 rounds per minute into their heads, 3 rounds impacting each of their craniums. With them eliminated I rush in to the entry way and brace myself on the left wall.

The apartment has a simple lay out, the door and entry way lead straight to the living room and directly left of the entry way was a small hallway. On the end was the bedroom, on the left was the entrance to the kitchen and the door on the right was the washroom. Two sibling pairs, the term used by The Agency to refer to the two man team of cyborg and handler, had been watching them through the windows since the targets arrived at the complex and they reported that the targets made no moves to alter the apartment. It was a reasonable decision, that would attract attention, if only they knew they were being watched already. With only 6 reported hostiles the sweep should be quick.

The washroom seems to be in use, I can hear the shower so I put it low on my priority list. A man emerges from the bedroom wearing nothing but boxers, good that means I still have the element of surprise, unlucky for them that my gun of choice is suppressed. I let off a quick automatic burst into his chest and knocking him back into the bedroom with the tight grouping leaving one large bloody whole in his chest. Rushing down the hallway and I quickly turn left and the sight of the woman in the kitchen triggering my instincts and without needing to think I spray another automatic burst in her direction. As I see her fall down I notice the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the bedroom, turning to face the threat I see a thrown knife coming for me and I'm forced to drop my rifle as I dodge. The source of the knife, a large fully dressed man with a kevlar vest rushes me and I fall back to the living room.

He was the biggest person I've ever seen; he was well muscled and obviously aware of my presence. A smirk painted on his face, confident in the fact that a skinny looking 14 year old would stand no chance in hand-to-hand combat. He throws a punch and I catch it with my left hand, he was strong yes but the artificial muscles in my arm gave me the advantage. He throws another punch with his other hand and I catch it with my right as a flash of emotion paints his face. Was that panic? Horror? I know fear, it is an important part of a person's self-preservation instincts after all and the suicidal generation zero protoype cyborgs made it clear that it was an important thing to keep. But being afraid to the point of panicking? I don't understand it.

CRUNCH

Putting the thought aside I crush both his hands with an audible sound of breaking bones as he screams in pain and collapses to his knees. I quickly move in and place my right foot on his chest and pull with his arms, using his own body to push off with my leg.

POP!

His arms now dislocated at the shoulders he screams for his mother. I don't understand, what good was calling for one's parent do for him now? They are the only occupants in this entire building and the phone and internet lines have been disabled, I doubt his call for reinforcements will make it. Satisfied that his arms are neutralized I let them go and move my foot to his throat and push him down on his back with his neck under my boot, seeing no reason to waste ammunition I push down and twist my foot.

SNAP! CRACK! SQUISH

Natural bone and muscle give way to the force of artificial muscle and reinforced bone as my boot now rests almost on the floor with only the crushed remains of his neck under my boot. Quickly moving to retrieve my rifle in the hallway I kick in the washroom door.

"Hey!" Two voices crack out from the shower, one male and one female.

"Look I said one of you at a time right? Be patient." The female voice calls out.

I reply by emptying the rest of my magazine in one final automatic burst through the shower curtain. 9x39mm armor piercing rounds rip through the thin curtain and into the two on the other side, blood clearly painting the other side of the curtain but keeping me clean. As the rifle runs dry I quickly reload and poke my head out the washroom and look towards the entry way.

"Clear!" I call out smiling. The engagement was quick, from the moment I eliminated the first target to now was approximately 110 seconds. No friendly casualties, no friendly injuries and none of the targets had been able to reach for the numerous guns scattered around the apartment. Quick and clean, my brothers and sisters would be impressed.

I hope Misato-san and Maya-san are happy.

**NEXT ON TOY SOLDIER-CHAPTER 1: ANGEL SLAYER! SACHIEL ATTACKS!** (AN ENEMY IS AN ENEMY, IT WILL DIE)

**Author's Poll: Would you prefer my Author's Notes before or after the chapter starts?**

**Author's Notes**

Well here it is, my first ever fic, I hope you all enjoyed it to some extent. I haven't written any works of fiction since high school since all the papers I've written in my three years of university have been essays, research papers and the like. So this has been tough to write for me, and I want to improve so feel free to R&amp;R.

Quick explanation terms I used that some may not know. "san" is usually a term of respect for one's elders, and "nee" comes from "neesan" which means older sister. If anyone is curious on what the guns Shinji uses look like then feel free to google them.

I do apologize if this chapter seemed a bit long, I blame it partly on my inexperience and that I wanted to get some sort of violence in this chapter to demonstrate how powerful Shinji and The Agency's cyborgs are. While obviously nothing compared to the EVAs they are no joke against other humans, they are ultimate anti-personnel weapons. The focus of combat will always be the Angels (I am REALLY excited to write the fight with Sachiel) but we will see a few more shows of lethality from Shinji against other humans. It would be a shame to do all this work in explaining his weapons and abilities and not use them no?

I got the idea after reading Broken Soldier by Shinobi no Ryu ( s/10575293/1/Broken-Soldier) and watching Gunslinger Girls. Shout out to Shinobi no Ryu for letting me use his work as a template for my own version of Shinji.

And if anyone was wondering yes Ferro is a reference to the side character from Gunslinger Girls, or her appearance is, she doesn't really interact with the cyborgs in the anime and she's also originally Italian. Expect a few more references to GG characters as I continue, although I may make up last names like I did for Ferro since all the cyborgs and some side characters aren't given last names.

I'll try to get chapter 1 done ASAP since I already know the gist of it but with me entering exam season I will be busy till around April. 20.

Till next time! Happy reading and writing everyone :D


	2. Angel Slayer! Sachiel Attacks!

**Author's Notes:**

Yes I'm not dead! So I stayed up late to finally get this out. *Looks at time* Yup will upload at around 0145 Hours EST. See? I love you guys that much. Fuck sleep, uni students run on caffeine! Specifically Tim Horton's coffee for me! GO CANADA!

Well as is decided by the poll the AN is now prior to the story content. The way I'm gonna do this is in 4 parts. First is general ramblings, status update on my writing habits (I am not gonna call it a schedule, it would be an insult to schedules everywhere) and this story. Any kind of announcements like this will be here as well.

HOLY HELL! Thank you to all those who checked out my previous story! 940 views, 13 reviews, 38 favs and 39 follows as of time of writing this sentence! I am really touched guys and girls, seriously I was really apprehensive and scared about uploading and all of the positive support is much much appreciated.

*Bows in gratitude*

And welcome new readers! Enjoy the madness wuhahahaha!

And with new guns and gadgets being mentioned as always feel free to google what they look like.

**Author's Question(s)!**

Ah my favorite part, this won't be a regular though...maybe. Anyway here I'll ask yall for opinions for the story or just to sate my curiosity. Feel free to answer in a review or PM!

**Any guns you want to see in the future? (Must be cool looking, practical, and not too mainstream). I will use your ideas if I like them and put them into the story (not with Shinji though as I've set his weaponry as of this chapter)! And give you a shout out of course, credit where its due.**

Ok so I chose Shinji's weapons carefully. The Sig was b/c I love the sig (I shoot my uncle's real steel P226 and own a WE airsoft P226) so of course I gave him a kick ass custom! The AS VAL was because it looked cool and not too mainstream (i.e. not a M4, M16, AK, etc) and has a built in suppressor which makes sense in context to Shinji. The rounds it fires are also sub-sonic so no cracking sonic boom and are armor piercing. MP7A1 gave him a good smg that fires armor piercing rounds and is small and compact enough to be stuffed into objects so he can carry it. The S&amp;W .500 magnum and PGM Hecate II was because A) they look cool as fuck and B) I want some guns that show that the cyborgs do NOT CARE about recoil. The rocket launchers? Bah I thought it might be funny so chucked them in the bag.

**Basic Q&amp;A:**

Here I'll address any questions as long as there is NO spoilers in the answer! Both from reviews and any PMs if I feel that answering them here would be more beneficial. Not many questions this time around.

**When will the next chapter be up? (Two anonymous): **So yeah two anonymous readers asked this and the answer is NOW! Haha! But in all honesty if you want an instant reply to that kind of question, log-in or create an account so I can respond! Seriously though I read a LOT and am currently playing through Persona 3 FES on the PS3 in prep for Persona 5, also catching up on anime as I've been to busy to watch while at school and combined with my fickle moods and I would say I will try to get one out a month. And that's not just laziness I swear! I do try to make these in the 5-7000 word range minimum (yes at around 10,600 words without this AN this is a looong chapter for me) and I try to make it good. First I write for myself, selfish I know, and I try to live up to my standard for writing. Plus I reread my stuff a lot prior to the upload.

**Do you like guns? (PM): **Ok I WILL KEEP PM answers ANONYMOUS so don't fret when I do answer them here, I just do this to keep any possible repeat questions down. Yes, yes i do. I shoot them at the range sometimes (not often though as I live at home as a uni student to keep living costs down and my family are not gun people and therefore tag along with my uncle when I can), I play airsoft when I can and I admire them from a mechanical/engineering and craftsmanship perspective. I also like swords and knives, weaponry in general I guess.

**SPOILER TALK:**

Here I'll answer any spoiler questions and just babble incoherently about this chapter in general so pls READ THIS AFTER YOU READ THE STORY CONTENT, the words won't disappear if you ignore them for now friend. Seriously its in the name so don't be mad about what you read here, and don't worry I will only discuss THIS chapter, light future plans and sometimes the PREVIOUS ones as well.

No spoiler questions so i will just ramble incoherently. Ok so this chapter became waaay longer than I thought it would be. Seriously, I thought I might have to insert filler to get it to 7ish thousand words but nope I didn't. Here I wanted to start off with the London raid from another perspective. Shinji's perspective last chapter was designed to be somewhat clinical, he's just going through the fight with no real emotional reactions, to him it's natural. No need to freak out or fuss.

After that I wanted to show exactly what Shinji is bringing, needless to say I had a good time putting together his armory ahahahaha.

Then the flashback, here I just wanted to have some fun describing where the cyborgs and handlers live and give examples of other cyborgs and yes their names (and Elsa's personality) are GSG references..oh and so is Elsa's handler. Then we got more back story on Shinji and the reaction of his new "sisters." I've always seen Maya as a soft and very kind person so of course she was most affected and has really resolved herself as a result, hence her behavior at the command bridge. Expect that protective aspect of her to grow btw and she will be in the story a lot, I love her as a character and love to see her in fics. She'll be the softer mature sister to Misato's loud and drunk party sister. And Misato fans don't worry we'll see more of her next chapter.

As for Shinji I wanted to show more of his...lets call it duality. To strangers he is cold, shown when he almost gives ol' Rits a heart attack and then later he tries to comfort Maya with his touch. He's not emotionally dead, he just doesn't show it loudly. Hell even a lot of his emotional thoughts end with him questioning himself and when emotions appear on his face others question what they saw. Expect Maya and Misato lowering his conditioning doses to change that as we go.

Ah the boot-up sequence, my FAVORITE part I've ever written, funny how I came up with the idea on the spot. I've always loved those scenes in movies, videos, shows, anime and games. Going through the checklists as you bring your war machine of choice to life, pure nerd fantasy. Hope you liked it. And no you won't see the whole thing again, Shinji's already done it but bits will come up. Mostly during combat but also as Unit-01 is tweaked for Shinji some few things will change and bits will be seen.

As for the battle itself between Unit-01 and Sachiel I had hella a lot of fun writing and thinking it up. Again I wanted Shinji's view of the battle to be almost clinical as he just...well goes through the fight. His moves and what he plans to do. He also gets hurt for the first time in the story but no real emotional response, conditioning has dulled that part of himself. I also wanted to show that Shinji will have to WORK for his Angel kills. Humans he can just overpower with his implants but the Evas and Angels are on a more fair playing field, and in many ways the Evas are at a disadvantage. In return these fights will be harder, he WILL get HURT unlike his infantry fights where he is the 14 year old Japanese Terminator.

**OOooops this went on for forever. Will try to shorten it next chapter.**

***Author's Notes END***

**CHAPTER 1: ANGEL SLAYER! SACHIEL ATTACKS!**(AN ENEMY IS AN ENEMY, IT WILL DIE)

**Southern Outskirts of London, UK**

He'll protect me he said, a 14 year old kid just said he'd protect me and I _actually_ feel safe. Either that says something sad about you Maya or that Shinji is really good with dealing with other people…I'm sure it's the former.

Truthfully Agent Ferro didn't give us a cover story, and also I've been too nervous on the half hour drive that I couldn't really pay attention to anything. Well I did pay attention to Shinji going over the pistol he lent me; he was surprisingly good at explaining things and answering questions. He also offered me two extra magazines, hopefully I'll never have to use them, I was never the best shot during training.

That said the P226 felt more comfortable than my NERV issue Glock 17, maybe I'll get one when we get back, if anything it'll make the monthly mandatory small arms refresher courses more comfortable. Besides officers are allowed to purchase, with private funds of course, a different side arm and I might as well take advantage of my rank's privileges.

Taking a deep breath I look at Misato-san, who was doing much better at staying composed than myself, and she gives me a quick nod and we move up to and knock at the door. A voice answered us from the other side of the door and he asks us about who we are and what we want. We reply with some messily jumbled together story. Something about a homeless man, way too much alcohol, and Misato added something about a homeless man having intercourse with a lawn gnome for some reason.

Needless to say he wanted us gone, but we needed that door open and continue to barrage questions.

Eventually he door slammed open and a gruff looking short man, he was shorter than even me, stormed out. When he turned around to slam the door shut I cursed internally. When he turned around I saw a pistol tucked into the back of his pants, oh no. He grabs me by the collar and from the corner of my eye I see Shinji looking angry and-wait? Did his eyes flash red?

CRUNCH! SPLAT! SNAP!

Shinji was a blur, one moment he was a few metres away and the next he wasn't. If not for that horrifying sound I don't think I would've realized what happened. I see the body of the man who grabbed me spinning 720 degrees, his head turned almost a full rotation and his head was caved in, blood and white bits of bone and teeth flew like shrapnel.

Then Shinji opens his guitar case and retrieves a strange looking…rifle?! With a thick tube for a barrel, a silencer I guess and vaguely resembled an AK.

Why am I even surprised he that he didn't carry an _actual_ guitar?! He had all those magazines on his vest after all, damn after lending me his pistol I forgot what he is.

No Maya, don't think like that. You saw it, it was faint and almost unreadable but you saw him worry for you, lend you a pistol and express genuine happiness when he told you what it meant to him. He is human.

Watching Shinji kick down the door and fire a short automatic burst before storming in I can't help but think taking him in isn't a good idea, that he was too dangerous, that he wasn't human.

No, he is, just remember that smile and that blush Maya.

Damn this crazy world, damn the world that made a shy kid into…_that._ And here we are about to drag him back with us to pilot a giant biomechanical robot we don't really understand against foes we don't really know anything about. Foes that may be, no will be, borderline god like.

I think I may need to join Misato-san for my first drink at this rate.

The sounds coming from the apartment were…quiet strangely enough. Shinji's rifle barely audible through the walls and I think I heard a few…bodies hit the floor.

Then a scream came, a blood curdling scream that froze both Misato and I. I know that wasn't Shinji, I've seen him move, seen him when he's in this…this 'lethal mode' and I know that he won't scream.

"MAMAAAA!"

That scream made me turn to Misato and we shared a look. A sad look, then we turn to the body of the man who grabbed me and looked at him. His face caved in, blood oozing out of the wounds where bone poked through the skin, it almost made me puke. Looking at Misato she gave me a look and it conveyed all she wanted to say, 'if there is a God then may he have mercy on that poor soul.'

A few more sounds followed, audible from the hallway, Misato and I were ordered to stay outside until Shinji cleared the apartment. Now I can see why, I would get in the way with my lack of skill and practice while even Misato looked like she knew that even with her training she wouldn't do him any good either.

Adults using kids as weapons to fight our wars, damn this world.

"Clear!" A voice called out, Shinji's voice, and…did he sound happy? Not shy and reserved happy either like earlier, no, instead this was jovial and excited?

I followed Misato to the door and she turned to enter she froze, coming up behind her I-oh my god.

Oh my God.

They were stumps.

In front of us across the entry way and in the living room sat two men on a sofa, their heads were gone above their lower jaw leaving a bloody stump with a bits of skull and teeth on the lower jaw being the only proof that they were once whole. The wall behind them was painted red with white specs sticking to the red liquid; their clothes were soaked in blood.

I stagger a few steps into the entry way and fall on my knees and hands and I vomit and cry.

Violently.

**HHHHHHH**

Maya did not take seeing those two bodies well, then I again I can't say I did either, I don't think she had the chance to see the shock on my face. Poor girl is crying and vomiting her guts out, I don't think she realized what she would see when she agreed to come on this trip to act in place of Ferro. I don't think I did either.

I let Maya…finish and compose herself as I continue walking in. There were a few guns lying around the apartment, around a half dozen AK-47s and a couple of hand guns are scattered around for easy access, they never had the chance to use them. In the middle of the living room was a man lying on his back and as I walk over I almost vomited too.

His neck, or what was left, was squashed flat like he didn't have any bone there, blood came out of one side where the skin split from the pressure of being crushed, a visible boot print was on the skin. It looked like someone stepped on a hot dog, a bloody hot dog.

Following the bloody boot prints I look up and see Shinji, a visible and expectant smile on his face. He was unharmed, not a scratch on him during his assault, only one bloodied boot (and of course his weapon and vest) were the only proof of his role in the attack.

That smile though, that felt wrong. It reminded of that look a puppy gave you when it ran back with the ball or the stick you threw, 'praise me praise me!' it said. He just killed around a half dozen people in comba-no. It wasn't combat, it was a one-sided slaughter. They didn't stand a chance from what I saw. All that violence and he looked so…happy, so god damn happy.

"Good work Shinji-kun," I say while forcing out a smile, and he gave a warm smile in response before noticing the lack of my compatriot.

"Where is Maya-san?" He asks with concern.

"GUAH!" Speak of the devil.

"Maya!" He screamed as he runs past me to check on her.

I can hear her tell him that she'll be fine and I hear them converse but pay them no attention as I see a man in boxers lying down the hall at the entrance to the bedroom, blood pooled around him. Well if Ferro wants me to see what I'm getting then it's time to see right Misato?

I carefully walk down the hallway to avoid the brass casings so as not to slip or trip on them and turn left towards the kitchen. Lying down on her back was a woman in a blue sun dress, arms and legs spread out as the force of gunfire knocked her down. She had several holes in her chest, while a pot of tomato sauce was knocked over and spilled all over her, blending in with the blood. Turning around and seeing into the washroom I stiffened.

It was like a scene from a horror movie, the shower curtain was COVERED on the other side with blood, bullet holes shredding sections of the thin material and giving me a glimpse of two bodies lying in a bathtub filled with red liquid.

These four never saw it coming.

Taking a breath…ok many breaths to compose myself I turn around and see Ferro standing in the living room and looking at me, behind her Maya was sitting on the floor with her back against a wall as Shinji was fussing all over her with a handkerchief that he was using to wipe her face. It made me smile a bit.

"Ready to go?" Asked the agent.

I take a last look around and see Maya stand up.

"Yes, let's go."

**HHHHHHH**

**Next Day, 1600 hours**

**NERV Transport VTOL, Over the Pacific Ocean**

I really wish NERV had civilian transport VTOLs, seriously these military transport VTOLs have no sound insolation at all. That's it! I'll demand the commander to purchase one of these things, I'm the operations director damnit, I should be able to recommend vehicles and equipment for requisition.

Looking at Maya sleeping across from me and her…our new 'little brother' sleeping with his head resting on her shoulder and her head resting on his I can't help but smile. They look like real siblings.

Also I can't help but wonder…how the hell can these two sleep with all this noise? Shinji I could understand, I'm sure there's some kind of upgrade or something that lets him sleep with all this noise…I wonder if I can get that?

Maya though…well I'm just glad that she's calmed down. After the mission at the apartment complex she couldn't look at Shinji for around an hour. It took her a few more hours of talking to from Ferro and I to calm her down completely and after being reminded how Shinji went to go and see if she was ok she started to treat Shinji-kun normally again.

Well as normally as a shy woman can treat a shy and emotionally stoic teen cyborg assassin.

Speaking of Shinji-kun I look at the pile of luggage across the aisle and I can't help but shake my head. The kid has a _lot_ of luggage, seriously for someone so stoic I'm surprised of all the stuff he had to bring with him. Then again it's not all luggage that normal people would bring with them.

Two of the large luggage bags were filled with clothing and personal effects. Most of his clothing was actually quite similar, various dress dress shirts in different colours, ties of different colours and patterns and pairs of blue and black jeans made up a majority of his wardrobe. Seriously was Ferro trying to dress him up to look like a stereotypical hit man? The rest of his wardrobe consisted around a dozen hooded zip up sweatshirts, undershirts, several really comfortable looking pajamas, a few t-shirts, a suit, a few pairs of shorts and of course his socks and underwear.

Oh yeah and combat vests, combat pants, various holsters and a pair of Oakley combat gloves, all must haves for this season.

As for personal effects he brought a few framed photos, a 9-inch combat knife, a 6-inch combat knife, one of the best first aid-kits I have ever seen and of course a gun cleaning kit and a lap top. The lap top was actually _really_ nice, a custom made computer made as a gift made by some of the technicians and scientists at The Agency. Good to see that even if they were used as…well weapons; the children were still loved by at least some of the staff at The Agency.

As, mostly, normal as those two bags were it was the next large luggage bags that put his belongings apart from those of normal people. One of them was filled with…well guns. A lot of guns, seriously I think some of the guys at the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force would drool over them.

Looking over at the two largest luggage bags Shinji-kun is bringing, labeled "exercise equipment" to excuse the heavy weight, I can't help but wonder how I got suckered into bringing that much firepower. Inside the purple one was a small armory. Stored inside was a PGM Hecate II sniper rifle chambered for the legendary .50 caliber round. The high-powered bolt action sniper rifle was now disassembled to fit into the bag. Also inside is a Smith &amp; Wesson Model 500 revolver, the monstrous handgun was chambered for the .500 Smith &amp; Wesson Magnum cartridge, would usually be used for hunting things like grizzly bears and elephants. Apparently the cyborgs all carry them to shoot out car engine blocks with special armor-piercing high-explosive dual-purpose ammunition and the only reason they're 'dual purpose' is because something that big will obviously be effective against people.

And OF COURSE he also has a few M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapons, single use 66mm rocket launchers, inside for God knows what reason!

The contents of the bag were rounded out by various accessories, mostly scopes and suppressors.

In the red bag was enough ammunition to last a squad of JSSDF soldiers going in a war for DAYS, along with a few grenades of various types.

The young cyborg's luggage was rounded out by two music instrument cases. One was a guitar case, one that Maya and I were already familiar with and inside was the AS VAL assault rifle he used at the apartment complex raid and a brand new Heckler &amp; Koch MP7A1 sub-machine gun…a present from Agent Ferro.

I really wish the woman had a normal person's sensibility on gift giving.

The last case was a cello case which had inside…a real cello. A real honest to goodness wood cello, no hidden blades or guns or explosives…or at least that what they told me. Hmmm maybe I'll ask him if I can listen to him play.

I can't help but let out a sigh, I mean the pistol he keeps on his person I could understand but…how in the world was I talked into bringing _that_ much firepower?!

**HHHHHHH**

***Flashback to 2200 hours the day before Misato, Maya and Shinji depart***

**Shinji and Agent Ferro's Room, U.K. Agency Dormitories A.K.A. "Hogwarts"**

Maya and I traveled to the facility, after she calmed down that is, where the Agents and their handlers train and live (outside of work and vacations as I was told) to help Shinji pack up and go over any details with his soon to be former handler. The place was actually really nice, far more home-ish than anything at Tokyo-3. The base, or as the kids like to call it "Hogwarts" was a large British style mansion surrounded by acres of lovely forests and a lake at the back with training facilities located a kilometer west. It was…picturesque to say the least.

I have to admit I'm going to feel a bit guilty taking Shinji away from somewhere this nice.

Once we arrived Shinji went off to start packing while Ferro gave us a tour. Maya and I even had a chance to talk to some of the other cyborgs at the cafeteria (where the food was so much better than the crap NERV serves may I add!)

One was a quiet girl named Elsa, her handler according to Ferro was a seedy guy called Lauro. She was…quiet and stoic, kind of like how Shinji was when we first met but much worse. She was polite and soft spoken but went off to her room as soon as she could, if it was because of shyness or because she just disliked us was anybody's guess…probably both. We never got a chance to talk to her handler though.

The second girl was a named Angelica, a good friend of Shinji-kun as they went through training together and frequently worked together. Her handler recently died due to cancer and she just finished recovering from mental shock of losing her handler. And I don't mean the usual grief, according to Ferro losing a handler could easily render a cyborg catatonic because of the conditioning, whatever that was. That said she was a sweet girl, friendly and strangely outgoing, a surprising difference from the other two cyborgs I've met, and a rarity from what Agent Ferro told me.

Speaking of the good agent she told us that she's planning to retire from The Agency and open a café, apparently it was a dream of hers and Shinji. She also planned to take Angelica with her and adopt the girl and help her transit to civilian life.

Now Maya and I are in Ferro and Shinji's room packing up his things and going over final details with Agent Ferro.

"No I am not letting him bring all those….things!" I shout at the good Agent. Seriously why in the world would he need to bring all those guns?! "Maya ba-"

"Please keep your voice down, Angelica is sleeping next door," interjected the young cyborg as he set on his bed.

"Maya back me up here!" I say, quieter this time of course.

"I agree with Misato-san, while I understand carrying his side-arm, I do not see the need to bring a small armory of weaponry, little brother," the Lieutenant proceeded to give said back up.

"I do not think what I'm bringing is unreasonable Maya-nee," replied the young cyborg.

"Shinji-kun, using only a few examples, you want to bring a high-powered sniper rifle, a hand gun that can bring down an elephant, and light anti-tank weapons," I deadpanned. Seriously what the hell did they want to do with all that? Fight the Angels on foot?

"It seems I'm losing this argument sister," Shinji pointed out while looking behind him at his handler. Also I could have sworn he was…pouting? A little bit?

"You have permission to use _that,_" she replied.

And he turned around to give us….oh God.

Calling it a puppy dog face would be the understatement of the century.

Someone THAT dangerous shouldn't be able to give a look like that!

**HHHHHHH**

***Flashback End***

Right, that happened.

Seriously that look was unfair.

Thank God he has to ask me for permission to use that now, that was pure weapon–grade cuteness and sadness.

I wonder if that would work on the angels?

After that conversation and after Shinji was asleep we talked about how to take care of Shinji-kun. For one Shinji-kun would have to move in with either Maya or myself, considering his father's personality I doubt he would want to live with his son anyway. Along with the fact that Ferro had made it clear to Shinji that Maya and I are his new handlers (and apparently imprinting us on him in the process) it shouldn't be that hard to pull off. Maya and I decided that it would be best to have Shinji stay with me, while we both can have irregular work hours Maya's are by far the worst with frequent late nights being spent maintaining and adjusting equipment related to the Evangelions. She did agree to move in next door to me though in order to be closer to our "little brother" as she now prefers to calls him. It seems that after getting over the shock of the violence earlier today she's gotten attached to the young Ikari.

I do wonder if it's because of the few flashes of his kind and shy personality or because of feeling pity for the boy, probably both.

Ferro also handed us an instruction manual for Shinji, and I'm not joking, it was an honest to goodness manual for the cyborgs. It was mostly meant for daily care and contained very little classified data, recommended diet and exercise regimens mostly. It also had notes on the effects of the conditioning, mostly on the _very_ protective behavior they show towards their handlers, reminders on how they can easily interpret mundane actions as threats and react with lethal force. The booklet also had a number of suggestions on helping them calm down and acclimatize to new environments and peoples along with how to use (ugh I hate how that word is used here) them properly in combat (mostly what to expect in their behaviours).

It also mentioned a safety feature that Maya noticed earlier when she saw Shinji's eyes flash red. According to the manual that happens when a cyborg gets angry and…well snaps and is about to react with lethal force. Due to a few incidents of lethal overreactions by the generation zero and one cyborgs some kind of optical implant was installed alongside optical upgrades to warn handlers and give them a chance to order their cyborg to stop if they think it's necessary.

It also made a note to remind handlers that most of the time cyborgs do not kill in anger.

Agent Ferro also had a few gifts for Maya and me.

For Maya she gave a FN Five-SeveN pistol. It was apparently Shinji's idea after he saw how awkward his new "sister" was with his own pistol (although according to the woman in question it was still more comfortable than her Glock) so he asked if Ferro could arrange for Maya to receive one. It was, admittedly, a good choice in my opinion. The gun's polymer construction made it strong and much lighter than most other pistols. The 5.7x28mm round had low recoil suitable for Maya's petite frame and lack of experience. It could also pierce body armor, add that with a 20 round capacity and you got a good gun for shooters like Maya, it was a perfect match.

Even if she wasn't a gun person it was easy to see how happy Maya was to see that Shinji cared a lot for her.

Hm I wonder why he didn't get me anything?

After that though were the…off the books presents, things that were being given to Maya and I with the trust that we will never tell NERV about them because they are so integral to Shinji's wellbeing and someone like the commander couldn't be trusted with it.

Hell Ferro could have gotten into a lot of trouble if some people in The Agency heard she told and showed us some of the stuff she did.

The first and arguably most important was a bottle of murky white liquid with a rubber stopper for the lid, it had a simple label stickered on that said "MEDICINE."

It was the drug, or more specifically the cocktail of drugs, that The Agency used to…brainwash the cyborgs, the conditioning I kept hearing about. I don't care what pretty words others might use but that's what it was, brainwashing. It is true that it wasn't all bad, the stuff keeps Shinji's implants from being rejected by his body; if they were to be rejected he wouldn't survive.

If that's all it was I would be singing the praises of that stuff to the heavens.

Sadly it has unsavory side effects. For one it made the cyborgs emotionally attached to their handlers, it imprints an unconscious reaction into them. According to Ferro some cyborgs, like Shinji, are aware of the effects and aren't sure themselves how much of the love they feel for their handlers are their own and how much is because of that damn drug.

Not that they care according to Ferro.

It can also dull emotions in higher doses, and will dull any unpleasant reactions to anything that would normally emotionally scar kids, things like the brutal violence cyborgs see in combat. And lastly it shortened their lifespans to around 20 years of age, according to Ferro the gen 3 implants didn't require the component in the cocktail that shortened their lifespans and gen 2s like Shinji could get them to replace what they have…sadly development on them is extremely slow going. Not good news with Shinji at 14 years old and some of the older gen 2 cyborgs dying as early as 17.

Needless to say Maya and I weren't ok with any of that.

Neither was Ferro apparently. While the conditioning was required to keep his many implants, some were combat upgrades and some were replacement organs to fix the damage from the car crash all those years ago, from being rejected his current doses were much larger than the minimum dose required to live; even if it's what The Agency labels as their minimum dose for active cyborgs.

So we made a plan, it was simple really, to give him increasingly smaller doses every day. While everyone would prefer we give him the minimum dosage to live from the get go and give him some semblance of normalcy and hopefully keep him going long enough for the gen 3 implants to finish; the drug was also highly addictive and either a too low too sudden dose or going 24 hours without a dose could cause a lethal withdrawal.

Fucking hell, drug addicted cyborg ninja assassin with possibly only 2 or 3 years left and soon to be giant robot pilot…I need a drink when we get back to Japan.

The doses are going to be easy enough to give at least; just a small dose mixed in with a glass of water every night and a larger dose in a syringe if he goes into withdrawal. Hell we don't even have to worry about it being detected by NERV since the body absorbs it so quickly so for once luck was on the kid's side.

The last thing she gave us, or more like let us borrow as we couldn't take it with us, was a laptop with files on his training, every single mission Shinji ever participated in and every single time he was injured and what was done and how long it took for him to recover. Needless to say we were shocked, the kind hearted Maya even more so. The training wasn't that surprising after what we've seen him do but the mission and medical reports were hard to read, hell by the end of it Maya was sobbing and she would probably be crying loudly if her new sibling wasn't already asleep.

The mission list was…extensive. Literally hundreds of missions over the years that spanned every corner of the European Union and they ranged from assassinations to raids to all out assaults. And the list of injuries was just as shocking although not as long. Multiple accounts of bullet wounds, stabs and cuts with some of which requiring replacement of artificial bones and/or muscles; both lists were so long that Maya and I couldn't read them all and mostly skimmed through it. Agent Ferro did point out one job before we called it a night, one that made even her sick. It happened around two years ago, it was an assassination mission where the target locked herself into a secure hotel suite.

She had a thing for young boys, needless to say The Agency jumped at the chance to use her vice against her.

After reading through that report I was only too happy to accept a drink from Ferro, Maya just sat at the edge of Shinji's bed and held his hand while silently crying.

"Captain Katsuragi, message coming in from NERV HQ," I hear the pilot call out on my headset and brought my thoughts back to the current mission.

"Shoot"

"UN and JSSDF naval forces have detected possible Angel approaching Japanese seaboard. MAGI computers are working to confirm. Target's ETA to Japan is 6 hours. Commander wants you three at the command bridge on arrival."

"Damn, what's our ETA?"

"ETA to Tokyo-3 is two and a half hours ma'am."

**HHHHHHH**

**Tokyo-3, Japan**

Misato-san, Shinji and I are now on one of the subway trains that go from the surface and streets of Tokyo-3 and down to NERV HQ at the bottom of the Geofront.

"Misato-san what about the luggage?" I ask.

"Don't worry, we'll come back for it later," she calmly replied.

"But what about his…_exercise equipment" _I ask her being careful about what I say, don't want security over hearing if there is a camera here, which there probably is.

"Oh don't worry it's just weights and stuff right? What will be a problem is registering the weapons he has on him," she said while gesturing at Shinji.

Well I guess we aren't going to mention the armory Shinji has in his luggage…probably for the best actually. That much firepower would make people nervous, besides he won't use it without Misato and myself telling him to anyway.

That and filing the paperwork for all of it would take forever and a day.

"Shinji-kun, here take these. Make sure to memorize the serial number on that card ok?" Said Misato as she handed Shinji his "Welcome to NERV" package, it wasn't much, just a booklet with some of the less important classified information on NERV and his NERV I.D. card.

Rays of light enter through the widows as the train enters the Geofront.

"Woah," I hear a small voice in awe beside me and I turn and see a face on my little brother that I can't help but smile at. His eyes were wide open and his face was in sheer wonderment. "A real Geofront!"

Misato and I couldn't help but smile at him as he got up to get a better look out of the window, it's the first time we've ever seen him really act like what he is, a 14 year old kid. I guess even a battle hardened veteran couldn't help but be in awe at the sight in front of him.

Heck I can't honestly say that I'm not impressed with the Geofront, even after working here for the past few years it's always a beautiful sight to behold on your way to work, pity only NERV employees are allowed to see it. The Geofront is a massive underground cavern, a dome, roughly 6 kilometres in diameter and a kilometre tall. At the north end was a sizable fresh water lake with a Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force destroyer floating on the surface, why someone put it down here and how it got there is anybody's guess. In the middle of the cavern was the black pyramid that is NERV Headquarters although the internal structure descends far below where the eye can see. All around the HQ building and the lake was a green lush forest. At the top of the roof of the dome was a flat roughly 1.5km diameter space where skyscrapers hang from the ceiling like icicles, normally they make up the core of downtown Tokyo-3 but are retracted underground to protect them when the angels attack. Mix that with the spiral patterns of train tracks on the white dome's walls and the sunlight filtered in through the ceiling and it looks like something from a fantasy, a hidden underground paradise.

Mankind's last hope against the angels.

As we reach the terminal at the bottom that leads to NERV HQ I lead them down the maze of hallways to the command bridge. Looking back at Shinji I had to suppress a frown, his face was the same stoic face I saw when we first met. True he didn't express or talk much, when he did it was usually kept short and to the point but I saw bits of what I think is his true self. Shy, easily embarrassed, protective and one who fusses over other people, now he was in "work mode," I can see him eyeing every corner and turn and his body was tense and ready to act.

Deep breath and focus Maya, keep walking…that's a problem for later, preventing the end of humanity comes first.

Misato wanted to lead, probably in an attempt to act as the oldest of Shinji's sisters but knowing how new she is and how bad her sense of direction is I doubt we would get to our destination on time…if at all.

As we enter the command bridge, a large room with a large monitor covering an entire wall with three computer terminals at the bottom for use by us technicians. Behind that was enough space for the other personnel there to stand such as Misato the operations director and a bench was off to the side for any of the pilots who may be on stand-by in the future. Behind that was the elevated space for the three UN and JSSDF generals to sit and above and behind them sat NERV Commander Gendo Ikari and Vice-Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki.

I stop as I see someone come walking over to us with Shinji stopping on my left and Misato beside him. The woman coming the greet us was dressed in a white lab coat and had blonde dyed hair cut to chin length, my boss and senpai, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi the head of Project E and NERV's Research and Development Division.

"Hello Maya, welcome back," she greeted me.

"Thank you senpai," I responded and she turned to Misato-san.

"Misato, you're late, you were supposed to arrive this morning," she chided as she walked up to Misato to get in her face. I saw Shinji tense up as a stranger got to close to one of his sisters and I gently took his hand to give it a squeeze to tell him it's ok.

"Sorry Rits, you know how airports can be ahahaha," the black haired woman responded with an awkward laugh. Misato and senpai had been friends since college from what I've heard so I'm sure she knew that was true. I knew now too, Misato got us lost at the terminal for HOURS.

"And is this the Third Child?" She asks shifting her attention to Shinji who responded by giving her the cold calculating look Misato and I saw when he first saw us. Visibly uncomfortable she turned to me and gave him and I holding hands a quick glance.

"Well Maya I'll handle your duties for the time being seeing…Shinji-kun here seems to be uncomfortable with so many new faces," she said with a hint of tenseness. Can't blame her, if looks could kill, that look my little brother is giving…well all the new faces he's seeing would probably kill everyone present with the exception of Misato and I.

Although I could have sworn I saw a genuine look of fury when his scanning eyes saw his father, Commander Ikari.

"Of course senpai," I nod back. Watching her walk over to my seat at the middle computer terminal with Shigeru Aoba on her left and Makoto Hyuga on her right I can't help but sigh, I guess when we're off work we have to start working with Shinji on his people skills.

"JSSDF 79th Armored Regiment deployed on the highway facing the sea and prepared to intercept as per your order generals," I heard Aoba call out.

"MAGI have finished analysis! Blood Type Blue detected! Target is now confirmed and classified as the Third Angel. UN call sign: Sachiel!" Exclaimed Hyuga.

I feel a tug on my left hand and look down at my little brother.

"Yes little brother?"

"I have a question, sister."

"Mhm?"

"What is an angel?" He asked me quietly.

Taking a second to think about how to explain it I give my answer," well we don't really know much about them to tell you the truth. We don't know where they are going to come from or why but we do know they will destroy humanity if we don't stop them." Might as well be truthful, he's gonna find out sooner rather than later working here anyway.

"I see," he said, as fond of short replies as ever and I turn back to the screen.

"Sister?" I hear him ask.

"Yes?" I say back but keeping my eyes on the monitor.

"Is that the enemy I must destroy?" He asks me and I take a deep breath before responding.

"…Yes."

And that's where our short conversation ended and we both watched the monitor with all our attention and I'm sure Misato is doing the same…well Shinji is probably keeping some of his mind on keeping his sisters safe.

"Target approaching, ETA 60 seconds," Aoba calls out.

And sixty seconds later a giant black humanoid figure burst out of the water. It was…a strange creature that's for sure. It was around 40 metres tall with long slim limbs, its arms ending in four long fingers and there was some kind of spike on each elbow. Its massive shoulders had a white bone like armor plate covering them and on its thighs it had what looked like gills it used to breathe with. The monster lacked a head or neck and instead just had a bone white mask for a face with to black eyes and a bird like beak; on its chest was a large blood red orb with three rib like protrusions on each side.

The JSSDF tanks, Type-74s, opened fire on the Angel with their 105mm guns and a mix of dense tungsten kinetic penetrator darts and high-explosive anti-tank rounds struck home. It was a wasted effort as they did no damage. The angel responded by smashing the tanks underneath its feet, simply walking over the homogeneous steel armor hulls like the carapace of insects.

I couldn't help but cringe as the regiment was destroyed one vehicle at a time. I could _hear _the crews screaming in pain as they were crushed to death or burned to death or tried to drag a comrade out of the destroyed vehicles. But I can't be sick here, I can't be weak here. I need to be a good sister for Shinji, a strong sister, I can't undo the hell that he's been put through and I can't shield him from the monsters he'll face so I'll at least be strong. I can't turn away now.

Turning slightly and I can see Misato with a deep frown on her face, not surprising since we guessed that conventional weapons would do nothing against the angels. Shinji on the other just watched with an almost clinical interest, analyzing his future foe.

"79th armored…has gone silent," someone said.

"DAMNIT!" I heard one of the generals shout.

As the angel made its way inland, in an almost relaxed walk, it was intercepted with UN Air Force VTOL gunships and they opened fire with their under-wing mounted rocket pods and chin mounted chain guns blazing automatic death into the angel. Hydra-70 70mm folding fin aerial rockets and 30mm depleted uranium armor piercing incendiary rounds slammed into the angel and caused it to stumble a step back. But that was all it did and soon enough the angel was following them into a town. Munitions designed to open tanks like sardine cans did nothing else to the monster as it extended a searing white hot spear the length of its forearm out of its right hand and started swatting the aircraft out of the sky like flies.

"We're not scratching it!"

"Damnit wh-" *BZZZZT*

And again I can hear the crews dying, more and more of the radio chatter descending into static.

Don't look away Maya!

I guess Shinji noticed my discomfort and he gently held my hand a little tighter.

"Artillery batteries open fire!" A general ordered as the aircraft started to break off.

And far and away from the angel's path UN Army M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer batteries and M270 rocket artillery batteries fired at their target. 155mm high explosive shells and 227mm rockets with high explosive warheads struck the angel and the surrounding area exploded in a festival of light and fire.

Again it did nothing, well not nothing; the buildings around the angel didn't survive the barrage. Good thing the evacuation order sounded well before the angel arrived.

"Damn waste of tax payer money," I head Misato mutter to which I could see Shinji giving a small nod, I guess even now he understood how much normal weaponry affected the angels, not much.

"Firefox, this is Godfather, proceed on bomb run," a general called out, from the UN Air Force I assume.

Funny how adults pick stuff up slower than kids.

A United Nations flight of four of the new Russian Tu-200 Bear-2 bombers each carrying a single 50,000 pound earthquake bomb dropped their payloads and blasted the entire town into oblivion. I even saw a direct hit.

Silence filled the command bridge as the smoke cleared…to reveal an intact Sachiel and a devastated town, if you can even call it that now.

Then a massive halo formed on top of the angel and flashed bright yellow as it propelled itself up and away from the town, it's massive "hop" landing it around 20 kilometres away from the previous battlefield and that much closer to Tokyo-3.

As it touched down another squadron of VTOL gunships intercepted and started to fire, albeit at a farther distance than before, and the angel gave chase…or seemed to at least, it was still moving at a rather lackadaisical rate.

Not to take the small reprieve for granted I walk over with Shinji to the pilot's bench and sit down with Shinji while Misato went to grab some coffee at the nearby coffee maker.

Sipping some coffee I can't help but be worried about Shinji facing that monster, all that firepower and nothing.

As we finish our drinks I look over at the top corner of the large monitor at the tactical map and see what the generals have planned, they've placed an N2 mine in the angel's path. Makes sense, N2 weapons are the most powerful conventional weaponry that mankind has ever created, all the power of a nuclear weapon with none of the radioactive fallout.

And as the mine was triggered a small star was born on the surface of planet earth for a split second as a blinding flash of light engulfed the screen that was followed by the image of the explosion and the resulting mushroom cloud. It was devastating, swaths of trees were either snapped or had all their leaves blown off, those close enough but too far to be caught in the explosion combusted from the flash of searing heat.

"YES!"

"TAKE THAT YOU MONSTER!"

Two of the generals celebrated.

"Well it looks like you won't be needed after all," said the third as he turned around to gloat at the commander.

"Electro Magnetic Pulse incoming, will lose visual feed for 10 seconds," I could hear Akagi senpai call out and static covered the monitor.

*BZZZZT*

While I'm almost sure that thing survived, I really hope I'm wrong.

"EMP receded, putting visual up on the main screen."

And of course I'm wrong…I'm starting to see why Misato drinks so much…but wait the war with the angels only started today? Okay maybe I don't know why Misato drinks so much.

"DAMNIT!"

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"Fucking demon."

On the screen was a huge crater several kilometres in diameter and most of it was still in various phases of being molten and cooling with the epicenter being white hot and slowly changing to yellow as you move away. The very edge of the crater was covered in green glass and as it cools the rest of the crater will be the same, a testament to the destructive power of N2 weaponry. But alas in the middle where it was still white hot was The Third Angel, it's skin was severely burned, it's bone like armor charred and it's face mask was cracked. Not that it mattered, underneath it a second face mask with a smaller beak was pushing its way from underneath and moving the old face aside as a sickening snapping sound could be heard from the display. Its flesh was healing too, new flesh was growing and being woven into the wounds.

I think I'm gonna be sick.

And just like that I could feel Shinji giving my hand a squeeze again. Turning to him, he was still glued to the monitor but I whisper a "thank you" to him anyway.

"It has an A.T. Field as we guessed," I could hear the Vice-Commander say, "regeneration abilities as well. Impressive."

*BZZZZT*

And just as he finished a flash of light came from one of the still emerging face's eyes and the screen went to static once again.

"Observation drone destroyed, switching to higher altitude drone. MAGI confirmed energy spike prior to loss of visual signal. Switching in 10 seconds," I could hear Aoba say.

"A beam weapon? It seems they are evolving," commented the vice-commander. Does he have to say it so….complementary?

"Well it seems like we have no option but to hand this over to you Ikari," I could hear the general in the middle say with obvious animosity.

"Do you think you can handle this?" Another asked.

"Of course, this is the reason for that NERV exists. If we do not defeat the angels then mankind is finished," replied the commander while fixing his red tinted sunglasses.

As the general leave, probably to retreat to their own bunker, Misato walks forward to stand behind senpai.

"Orders sir?" She asks as she spins around to look up at the commander.

"Prepare to launch the Evangelions."

"B-But sir! Unit-00 is still frozen! Unless…you want to use Unit-01?!" She asked while blinking, obviously taken aback. I could see senpai also giving the commander a tentative glance back. I'm not surprised, Unit-00 is out of commission due to going berserk during the last activation test and Unit-01 is notoriously temperamental.

"We have no choice on the matter, Captain."

"Sir but Rei is still injured!"

"You have brought a spare have you not?"

A SPARE?! How…that…UGH!

Thank god Shinji isn't staying with the commander, now I know why Misato-san calls him the "Bastard King."

Deep breath Maya.

"COMMANDER!" Well it seems Misato just snapped.

As Misato continues to argue I feel Shinji tugging my hand and I turn to face him.

"Yes little brother?"

"What are the Evangelions and how many pilots do we have for them?" He asked with his head tilted to the side.

"The Evangelions or Evas for short are 40 metre tall biomechanical…robots you could say. They are our only hope against the angels little brother. Because of the cost of building, maintaining and repairing them the only fully complete units are the prototype Unit-00 and the test type Unit-01 but Unit-02 is almost finished in Germany. For pilots we have Rei Ayanami, who is injured from an incident in a test in Unit-00, the others are Captain Asuka Shikinami Langley of the European Air Force and you."

"Is that why I'm called the Third Child?"

"Yes. Only children born after second impact can pilot the Evas…I'm sorry," I said but I almost whispered the apology.

"Why apologize?" He asked with his head slightly tilted to the other side.

"Never mind," I shake my head. I can lecture him on the finer points of guilt and emotions later I think to myself as I see Misato and Akagi senpai walk over to us.

"Maya take Shinji-kun down to the Eva cages, we have a plugsuit that should fit him as well so take that. We don't have much time so try to give him a basic run down on the controls," said senpai.

"Yes ma'am," I reply back and standing up and Shinji does so as well.

"Good luck Shinji-kun, beat that thing up and I'll get you a reward ok?" Said Misato with a wink to which he replied with a nod.

"Ok come with little brother."

And I lead him out of the bridge.

**HHHHHHH**

**2 hours and 15 minutes later**

"Here, this is your plugsuit it should make piloting the Eva more efficient," I tell him as I hand him the folded up plugsuit. Taking the Neural Clip, a device like a cat ear head band with two ceramic like nodes, out of my coat pocket I hand it to him as well, "this though is necessary to pilot the Eva. When you put on you plug suit it should be baggy so just press the button on the right wrist and that should vacuum seal it."

With a quick nod he walks in and soon comes out dressed in the all-white wetsuit like skin tight plugsuit with the neural clips sticking out on top of his head.

"How does it feel?" I ask him as he I take his folded up clothes from before as well as his pistol and holster and extra magazines.

"In some places it's a bit tight but mostly it's comfortable, like wearing my own skin."

"Sorry little brother but we haven't had the chance to make one specifically for you yet and seeing as all the other pilot are girls…well its lucky that we could get one out for you as is," and he replied with a nod.

"Later we'll get one custom made for you and you can pick your colours…actually I think they would be ok if you wanted a repaint of your Eva since Asuka asked for the almost complete Unit-02 to be repainted red."

"My Eva?"

"Well the one of the reasons pilots are so rare is that they have to be matched with an Evangelions by the Marduke Institute, technically another Child could operate another's Eva but it won't nearly be as effective," I reply with a shrug.

"Oh by the way, have you thought of a reward yet? I know Ferro rewarded you after a mission but we don't know how she does it so we decided to let you," I ask him partly out of curiosity and partly to take my mind off sending him into the unknown as we walk down to Unit-01's pen.

He tilts his head slightly to the side, something I noticed he does when he's thinking or curious/confused, while thinking up his response. It's a cute habit, one of the few of his I don't mind him having.

"I want pouches and holsters built into my plugsuit for my weapons," he said as he gestures down at the suit in question.

"I'll see what we can do," I reply and I can't help but shake my head in response. Boys and their toys I swear.

As we walk into the cage I can see the 40 metre tall Evangelion Unit-01. Its frame is tall and somewhat skinny, the physique of a runner. It's armor was mostly purple with neon green segments and black highlights. It's head incased in a purple armor resembling a cross of a demon and a samurai helmet with grey jaws clamped closed and one purple horn. After seeing pictures of Unit-02 and seeing Unit-00 in person I will always say 01 is the most intimidating.

As I lead him to the entry plug, a long white pod that that is inserted into the Eva's back and acts as the cockpit, I can't help but feel apprehensive and…guilty.

"Shinji-kun," I call him before he steps inside.

"Yes Maya-nee?" He responded with his back facing me.

"Please just…make sure to come back."

"Order Acknowledged."

**HHHHHHH**

**Evangelion Cages, Unit-01 Pen**

As I sit down in the entry plug and the hatch closes I take a deep breath, game on.

Taking a minute to look around the metallic orange walled entry plug and it's kind of…empty actually. The seat is comfortable enough, sized for teens and not adults, makes sense from what Maya-nee explained. There are two control sticks, one for each hand with a trigger for each and a button on the left side of the seat. Other than that no buttons or displays. Well then again this thing is supposed to be controlled with my mind so I suppose that makes sense.

*VOooooooowm*

I can feel the plug rotate and slide into the back of my Unit-01, kind of like the feeling one might get on a fast descending elevator. As I can feel it come to a stop I can hear the dull thud of the armor panel that covers the entry plug port close in place.

The metallic orange walls of the plug flash white as text scrolls up in front of me. I suppose the plug's walls serve as a panoramic display, impressive.

[THOUGHT PATTERNS DETECTED]

[ERROR!]

It said in Japanese. Seeing the button I was told about on the left side of the cockpit I press it and just like Maya-nee said a keyboard popped out from the left side of the seat and flipped over my lap and I type to resolve the issue.

[SET THOUGHT PATTERN LANGUAGE ENGLISH]

…

[CONFIRMED]

Good now it's in English, my Japanese may be flawless but I'm just more used to this.

…

[NERV]

[UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL AGENCY]

[GOD'S IN HIS HEAVEN ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD]

[ENTER SECURITY CLEARANCE QUALIFICATION:…]

Ok so according to Maya-nee I just type in my NERV personnel serial code…

[ENTER SECURITY CLEARANCE QUALIFICATION: SIERRA-JULIET-BRAVO-1-1-7]

[VARRIFYING]

[STAND BY]

[ACCEPTED]

[LEVEL 2 CLERANCE]

…

[TOP SECRET]

[UNITED NATIONS]

[NERV]

[INTERNATIONAL PROJECT EVANGELION AGENCY]

…

[PROJECT-E]

[EVANGELION PRE-PRODUCTION SERIES]

[EVANGELION UNIT-01]

[TEST TYPE]

[STATIONED: NERV HEADQUARTERS, TOKYO-3, JAPAN]

[!]

[NEW USER DETECTED]

[PREPARING OPERATING SOFTWARE]

[NO CUSTOM SETTINGS DETECTED]

[PREPARING DEFAULT DRIVERS]

[PLEASE WAIT]

….

[DEFAULT USER SETTINGS]

[USER INTERFACE SYSTEMS-GREEN]

[LIFE SUPPORT-GREEN]

[NEURAL LINK SYSTEMS-GREEN]

[OPTICAL/AUDIO/PHYSICAL SENSORS-GREEN]

[OPTICAL/AUDIO/PHYSICAL FEEDBACK-GREEN]

[BIOMECHANICAL MUSCLE SYSTEM-85% OUTPUT- GREEN]

[BIOMECHANICAL NERVE SYSTEM-GREEN]

[ARMOR STATUS-GREEN]

[EMERGENCY INTERNAL BATTERY-100%-GREEN]

…

[EXTERNAL POWER AMBILICAL CABLE DETECTED]

[POWER MODE: EXTERNAL]

[PRIMARY POWER….]

[CONTACT]

[EVANGELION TEST TYPE UNIT-01: ONLINE]

…

[PRIMARY PILOT REGISTERED]

[WELCOME PILOT]

[SHINJI IKARI]

[SIERRA-JULIET-BRAVO-1-1-7]

As the keyboard stores itself away the walls flash a myriad of colours and they finally display the inside of the cage, what the Evas eyes are seeing.

Well this is cool, can't help but remember all those games Ferro-nee and I sometimes play with the giant robots…and what was that anime she liked to watch…Gundam?

Well if anything turning it on was fun.

Still I would prefer to have the targeting computer ready but I guess I'll just make do with the knives. If anything according to Miya-nee Unit-01 was just barely made combat ready. Hopefully more gets done before the next monster arrives.

A window opens off to the side that says "AUDIO ONLY" and I can hear the voice of Dr. Ritsuko Akagi.

"Usually Maya would be the one providing primary support to the pilots but for today you're stuck with me Shinji-kun," she says. "Now we'll start flooding the plug with LCL."

I nod and the orange fluid starts to fill the plug. I stay calm; it will oxygenate my lungs directly so I won't drown.

As I breathe it in I can feel that it's warm, body temperature warm. And it tastes and smells like…blood?

"After this we'll install the function in your OS to let you fill the plug manually just in case. Now prepare for A-10 nerve connection in 3…2…1…contact"

I feel myself seemingly ripped from my own body…it's not an unpleasant feeling though, just strange. While I can see the inside of the plug I can also see from the Eva's eyes. I can feel the muscles in its body as I flex them and feel the power they have as they flex against the flexible plastic composite armor. Everything looks so…small.

As I move my head side to side Unit-01 does so as well. We are one.

"How does it feel?" She asks.

"It feels…good. Warm, like it _wants_ to keep me safe," I truthfully respond. I can…feel the Eva's will or something vaguely similar. It's faint and feels almost shy and apprehensive like me when I meet someone new but also familiar and somewhat protective.

Strange.

After a short silence I the doctor spoke again.

"Ok good…sync ratio at 70%?! Good job Shinji-kun! We'll also let you do that connection by yourself once we customize Unit-01's settings for you…well you're as ready as you can be, good luck."

"Ready Shinji-kun?" I hear Misato ask.

"Of course."

"Good, we'll put you right in front of the Angel's path," and I know she's nodding to herself, "Eva Unit-01 LAUNCH!"

Urk!

God knows how much G-force pushes me into the seat as Unit-01 is shot up through the ceiling along the Eva Deployment Elevators towards the streets of Tokyo-3 and I can't suppress a small smile on my face. This is like a roller coaster. That sensation along with the adrenaline and the feeling of testing with a new weapon would make any cyborg a little excited.

Using the neural commands I think up a command that blinks up on the right side of the plug in my vision's periphery as I think up my plan.

[EVANGELION ELEVATOR RESTRAINTS]

[UNLOCK: YES/NO?]

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I heard Misato-nee ask.

"Killing my target."

As I look up I see the door open. Good.

[YES]

[RESTRAINTS UNLOCKED]

As the elevator snapped to the surface I make Unit-01 jump and the combined force rockets us up and past the tops of the buildings in the area and I land on top of the tallest one I find, a twenty story tall office building. I land hard as I could hear the windows underneath shatter.

I take a quick look around and take in my bearings, I'm on the edge of Tokyo-3 which would explain why there are building still above ground, only the tallest sky scrapers in the downtown core are worth the expense of building in the retracting feature I guess. Well with everyone in the shelters I shouldn't worry about property damage.

*THUMP THUMP*

Looking down and in front of me I see my enemy.

"Unit-01 moving to intercept," I announce as I force the purple titan into a lunge down into the Angel and I could hear the roof crumble and crack from the force.

*SLAM*

I impact the angel with the force of a meteor and send it down and it slams into the building behind it, destroying much of that side.

I'm impressed with how easy Eva-01 is to handle even though it's my first go, it feels just like getting used to the artificial muscle implants.

Taking a quick step back to give me some space, I spin Unit-01 backwards to the right to deliver a titanic back spin kick.

*BANG*

Damn, the kick was stopped by some kind of yellow-glowing hexagonal barrier but the force was still enough to push it onto the street to its right.

"That's the A.T. Field! You have to generate your own to negate it Shinji, imagine a wall in front of you!" I heard the Doctor shout out and I do just that.

Right the Absolute Terror Field, the Angels' ultimate defense as Maya-nee explained.

"Unit-01 is generating an A.T. Field!" I heard a male voice say.

"It's negating the Angel's own field!" I heard the Doctor shout.

Good, time to press the attack.

I move in and draw the left arm up and spin to the left and elbow the Angel to the face.

*SLAM*

And now a right punch!

But it didn't connect as the Angel grabbed the right forearm with both of its arms...and my eyes widen in surprise. The Angel's arms muscles tripled in size and I can feel th-

*SNAP*

PAIN

PAINPAINPAINPAIN

IT HURTS!

I grit my teeth and bear it, I know it's just neural feedback but it feels so REAL. Well I've had worse.

[RIGHT SIDE PROGRESSIVE KNIFE DEPLOYED]

The Eva has two tall and thin rectangular pylons attached to the top of each shoulder, and inside each is one progressive knife, an Eva sized combat knife (a single bladed one in Unit-01's case) with a vibrating blade that cuts its targets at the molecular level. I wonder if I can have one Shinji sized?

Putting the thought aside I reach with the left hand and grab the knife from the now opened right shoulder pylon and slash it across the angel's arms. A high peach scream comes from somewhere on the creature as it recoils in pain and I kick it on the chest and throw the knife at its left leg to gain space and hopefully slow it down.

*FLOP*

Good I've also severed the right arm from the elbow.

Looking at the Eva's right forearm and I can see the flexible composite armor is broken half way down the forearm as the rest of the arm and hand is now dangling, just flopping about. Flesh, muscle and a snapped bone visible from the wound, a small trail of red…Eva blood I'll call it stains the street but it seems the wound itself isn't bleeding much anymore.

The Angel lunges at me with its left arm like a cobra and I grab it by the wrist and-fuck!

*HISSSS*

Moving Unit-01's head to the side I barely dodge the one remaining super-heated spear as it shot out of its palm, grazing the head armor and burning it as I feel a burn start to develop on the right side of my face.

My sync ratio must have shot up for that to happen.

Putting that aside I bring the left leg straight up and swing it down like an axe.

*SNAP! BANG!*

The left leg cratered the street and is now covered in the Angel's purple blood and I kick it back with the right leg to open the distance to give me time to put my end game into action.

Giving the severed arm a small toss I grab the still exposed and still white-hot spear.

*HISSSSS*

I can hear the armor covering the left hand start to sizzle and melt from the heat.

*SNAP*

Unlocking Unit-01's mouth I make it and bite the arm and with a pull of the Eva's own arm and pulling back with the head in the opposite direction I attempt to free my new spear.

*rrRRIIIIIiiip!*

The impromptu spear now free I open the jaws and drop the arm with a wet thumping sound.

Giving Sachiel no time to recover I rush it. Seeing a flash from one of the eyes I force Unit-01 down into a feet first slide and dodge the beam which impacts a building and causes a cross shaped explosion.

Skidding with its right leg between both of my Eva's own I lift the left leg up and to the right between the angel's own legs and swing it back down to the left while pushing up with my Eva to send it back first onto the pavement and my Unit-01 mounting it. Not one to be stunned again its eye starts to light up but I impale the spear right under the mask at an angle and twist and tilt it forward to rip the face mask off.

*SNAP!RIIIIP! SQUISH! HISSS!*

The mask now held on with only thin strip of flesh I can see a small river of purple liquid flowing from the wound with the spear sizzling the flesh it contacted.

Knowing it can regenerate quickly…

[LEFT SIDE PROGRESSIVE KNIFE DEPLOYED]

Letting go of the spear I grab my last knife and hear the now comforting sound of it humming to life. Flipping it over to a reverse grip I stab the glowing edge into the red core just like Maya-nee instructed. Sparks fly as the blade made quick work until it's down to the handle. Seeing the Angel twitch I stand up my purple destroyer and slam the right foot down onto the knife with monstrous force and in a blink of an eye the core cracks.

The Angel didn't even have time to react.

Dead, my foe's body started to bubble up and I try to step back but it pops and disintegrates into a red liquid which covers my Eva and the surrounding buildings. I can even hear a small drizzle of the stuff like water but at least it didn't explode.

Still, not my cleanest kill.

"Unit-01 has terminated the Third Angel. Requesting pick-up and coordinates to nearest elevator," I talk for the first time since the beginning of the engagement while looking at the half vaporized and half melted remains of the elevator I used on the first place.

Silence is all that answered me, was the communication equipment damaged?

"This is Misato, sending coordinates now…medical team is on stand-by at the cages…Maya will meet you there," she responded after around a minute of silence. Her tone was…I don't know what it was…surprise? Stunned?

Strange.

Oh the coordinates are here….let's see…

"Roger, coordinates received, Unit-01 is returning."

**NEXT ON TOY SOLDIER-CHAPTER 2: SCHOOL DAYS! **(ARE GRENADES ALLOWED AT SCHOOL?)


	3. School Days! Part 1

**CHAPTER 2: SCHOOL DAYS** (ARE GRENADES ALLOWED AT SCHOOL?)

**NERV HQ Command Bridge, Tokyo-3**

"How good is he Misato?" I hear a female voice ask me and looking down at the female in question, my long-time friend Dr. Ritsuko Akagi.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how good is he in a fight? You picked him up right? I'm sure you were told about his capabilities were you not?" She asked me with a raised brow. Right, of course she would know what I was told going in, she _is_ in charge of the sciency stuff.

"Damn good from what I've seen," I reply to which she nods in response and turns around to face her computer screen.

"Well he's stepped into the entry plug, let's hope his training and experience carr y over to the Eva."

You and me both Rits, personally I don't think I can live with myself if I send some….poor drug addicted kid out to die, hell he hasn't really lived life yet!

"Ok he's inputted his credentials," called out the good doctor and snapping my thoughts to the present. Focus Misato, save the world first, appease guilt after…preferably with alcohol. "Loading default systems drivers….primary power contact! Evangelion Unit-01 is online."

With a few key strokes a window opens on her monitor that read…

[EVA-01 AUDIO ONLY]

"Rits I thought the entry plugs have cameras? Why can't we see him?" I ask, I thought the plugs had internal cameras, Rei's Unit-00 does.

"Well I will admit that this Angel caught us with our pants down. Unit-01 is combat ready, her combat rated armor is fitted and almost all of her biomechanical systems are functioning but there are…things we haven't had time to settle yet," she explained, the last part almost hesitantly.

"Like?" I ask with a raised brow. I don't like where this is going.

"Well right now all of the computers and systems are running on default settings that we developed from Rei and Unit-00. Shinji WILL make Unit-01 move but how well…is anybody's guess. The plan was to start customizing everything for him tomorrow. Also Unit-01's targeting computer is installed but we haven't had the chance to get it running, my plan was to calibrate when Shinji arrived so we could get his input on it. It is his Eva now after all and with combat experience he may have some useful ideas since in the end I'm only a scientist."

She wasn't joking about not being prepared. I don't like the idea of not being able to give the kid a gun, I know the Evas have knives but there's a reason we don't send soldiers out with swords anymore! What's the saying in the west? Never bring a knife to a gunfight?

"Damn, can he hear us?"

"Not right now, we have a push to talk system for audio, don't want the pilots hearing any bickering in the bridge now do we?" She points out by turning her head back at me with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah yeah, come on, it's coming," alright Misato, work mode.

"Of course, Captain…usually Maya would be the one providing primary support to the pilots but for today you're stuck with me Shinji-kun," she says to the new pilot before hitting a switch on the board. "Now we'll start flooding the plug with LCL."

No sound, no panic. Well as much as I can get unnerved with his usual demeanor I will say it's a great comfort as his commanding officer, to have a soldier that doesn't panic is a God send. Granted he's trapped in a cramped metal compartment that's being quickly filled with a warm orange liquid but I'll never look a gift horse in the mouth when fighting a war. That said with it just being an audio connection it is somewhat unsettling as he could be unconscious for all I can see, luckily he hasn't started combat yet so I doubt he's not awake.

"After this we'll install the function in your OS to let you fill the plug manually just in case. Now prepare for A-10 nerve connection in 3…2…1…contact….how does it feel?"

"It feels…good. Warm, like it _wants _to keep me safe," he responded.

Strange.

Well I'm just happy he's comfortable, got to take what you can get. But what was that about he feels that the Eva wants to keep him safe? Sure they got fleshy bits but they're just empty machines….right?

After a weird silence the Doctor spoke, "ok good…sync ratio at 70?! Good job Shinji-kun! We'll also let you do that connection by yourself once we customize Unit-01's settings for you…well you're as ready as you can be, good luck."

I could have sworn I could hear her voice quiver with something I can't quite place my finger on.

"Rits? Something wrong? Come on, the Angel is coming," I remind her in the firm voice I use when I have to be serious…like commanding at the bridge.

"No nothing it's just…his sync ratio is at 70%! It took Rei months to get to 40% even Asuka whose been training in Germany since she was little is currently running at round the low 60 percentile range on a _good _day if the recent reports are to be believed. This is…fantastic," she told me with a slight quiver in her voice.

"It seems finding your son was worth the effort Gendo," I could barely hear the Vice-Commander say. And to no one's surprise the commander didn't say anything in response.

"I think we can do this," Ritsuko told me with her turning slightly to face me and I nod in response.

"Ready Shinji-kun?"

"Of couse."

"Good, we'll put you right in front of the Angel's path," I say nodding to myself, we can do this. He can do this. "Eva Unit-01 LAUNCH!"

Electricity arcs along the rails behind the Evangelion as the electromagnetic propulsion system charges up to maximum capacity.

*ZZzzzzziiiiiiit! BANG!*

And just like that Unit-01 is shot up through the opened blast doors that break up the Evangelion deployment elevator system into multiple sections. I Turn my head to the right to see where the map of the deployment elevators is located.

A maze, that's the only way I can describe it, a massive network that roughly resembles a tree. At the bottom are the few dozen launch platforms for the Eva units close to the cages, it only takes 30 seconds to transport an Eva from its pen via rail platform so we can deploy as quickly as possible. As you start to look up the paths split off and multiply and crisscross in every which direction in order to allow the Evas to deploy virtually anywhere in Tokyo-3, a great system really, fitting for a fortress city.

Tracking Eva-01 up the map screen I can see he's nearing the top.

*KAAANG!* *KAAANG!* *KAAANG!*

What the hell? An alarm?

"Status report!" I say out to the techs in front of me.

"Eva-01 is sending a signal to disengage its restraints!" I hear Hyuga call out.

Leaning over and grabbing Ritsuko's headset I press the talk button.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Killing my target," he answered back in such a calm tone that even in 'work mode' I was stunned for a second.

Looking back at the screen I was in time to see the 40 metre tall frame of Unit-01 shoot up and slam down onto an office building's roof, the shock of impact shattering all the windows and causing a rain of powdered glass. The Eva itself was…monstrous, more frightening in appearance than the Angel it's going to face. Standing up straight with the light glow of the green armor sections, the white slit like eyes beaming through the helmet like head and with the full moon shinning behind it the test type lived up to every single nick name its managed to pick up.

Oni

Demon

One Horned Slayer

I couldn't help but feel a shiver run through me. What the hell have we made?

Sachiel came into Unit-01's view and the angel seemed to look up and its second face slightly tilted to the side, it seemed to be almost curious of the beast that now looked at it from on high.

Unit-01 quickly crouched at the edge of the roof and in a violet blur launched itself at its foe, the roof exploding into dust from the pressure of the Eva's legs.

*KABOOM!*

The violet blur slammed into the angel and the force was akin to a 2000 pound bomb exploding, dust enveloped the two and none of the cameras could see into the cloud of debris. Then a flash of a yellow wall of light was seen as the angel is knocked to the right and out of the dust cloud.

I could hear Ritsuko instructing Shinji on A.T. fields but the exact words are lost to me. I can't help but just watch the fight between two titans take place and I have the feeling that everyone else but Ritsuko is doing the same thing.

How can we not?

The Angel and the Evangelion clashed like beasts of legends, titans and gods clash and all we mortals can do is watch in awe. The Angel was somewhat slow but there was no doubting its power as it snapped mankind's titan's right forearm. The Evangelion and Shinji though were another thing entirely, fast, precise and skilled. Knives the size of train cars were wielded with the grace and skill of a master, a drop kick coming down like the axe of a god and literally disarming it's opponent.

Then the Eva charged with the Angel's own spear, dodged a beam and mounted it, stabbed it with the white hot spear then the fight was over. In a quick blur almost too fast for mortal eyes to see the purple behemoth stabbed the angel and stomped on the knife with its foot. The angel then exploded coating the Eva and the surrounding cityscape in a red blood like liquid that also drizzled from the sky.

"Unit-01 has terminated the Third Angel. Requesting pick-up and coordinates to nearest elevator," I could hear Shinji call out. I tried to open my mouth to respond, to congratulate him, to thank him but nothing came out.

Silence

Silence, of awe, of fear, of hope, and disbelief.

Silence claimed the bridge.

A monster that personally destroyed an entire armored regiment and around a whole squadron of VTOL gunships.

A monster that absorbed enough bullets, cannon fire, missiles, rockets, and bombs to reduce a small country to ruin like they were nothing.

A monster that took an N2 mine, a weapon akin to nuclear weapons in power, and just seemed to treat it all as an inconvenience.

A monster that we fired enough tax payer money's worth of ordinance at to match the gross domestic product of several poor nations.

A monster that was taken down by Shinji in, according to the mission clock, 1 minute and 52 seconds.

I shake my head, we got a pilot that may be injured to get home Misato.

"Rits connect me to Maya," I tell Ritsuko who just sat in her seat in silence so I shake her with some force, "Rits!Get me Maya, she has a radio right?!"

My best friend just blinked once. Twice. Three times before stuttering out, "y-yeah, one second."

"Maya here," the girl in question answered over the radio.

"Maya you still at the cages? Unit-01 will be heading there soon."

"I'm still at the cages, I'll meet him. Maya out," and when she finished I noticed that I'm shaking, how I sounded so calm just now is lost on me but I'm not one to be ungrateful.

Bringing a shaky hand up to the talk button, "this is Misato, sending coordinates now…medical team is on stand-by at the cages…Maya will meet you there."

"Roger, coordinates received, Unit-01 is returning."

**HHHHHHH**

**Evangelion Cages, NERV HQ**

Really glad the cage crews let me watch the fight in their offices, I don't think I could stay sane if I just sat here waiting for Unit-01 to return, regardless of the shape it comes back in.

Walking onto the gantry, towel in hand with the medical team behind me I can't help but feel a mix of fear and pride. Fear of what shape my little brother will be in when he steps out of the plug and pride at what he did. Well whatever happens, he's alive and that's all that matters.

*CLACK-CLACK* *CLACK-CLACK*

Ah, there it is. I see that Unit-01 has finally arrived via the railed transport platforms, funny how in an organization as high-tech as NERV we still use something as simple as, what is basically, a train to transport the Evangelions.

*CHSSSSHHH!*

As I the air breaks slow down and stop the purple titan I start walking up to the end of the gantry as the head of the Eva tilts forwards and the massive armor plate on its back opens up revealing the some of the Eva's spinal vertebrate. Through the whole in one of them I can see the white of the entry plug.

*PSSHT*

As the tip of the plug is ejected, an arm with a four pronged clamp comes down and grabs the tip of the plug and extracts it with an audible whirl of the motor as the plug spins up and out. As the entry plug is fully extracted it stopped so that the hatch is right at the end of the gantry. As the LCL finishes draining I reach the hatch as it begins to open. Out walks a very wet Shinji Ikari and as he coughs out the orange fluid left in his lungs I can't help but wonder how such an effeminate looking boy ended up being a warrior fighting for mankind.

"I'm back Maya-nee," he said with a small smile, "order completed."

"Thank you for being safe. Thank you thank you thank you..." I murmur into his hair as I pull the boy into a hug.

I can't help but smile as I do so, not really caring about the fact that my uniform is probably completely ruined. LCL stains ordinary clothing almost permanently but I could hardly care right now. I could feel him stiffen at the sudden contact but after a few moments he slightly relaxes and returns with a tentative hug.

As I gently break away I start to dry his hair. Originally I'd planned to let him do it instead but oh well, I won't lie, I'm really enjoying the whole big sister thing.

"Good work little brother," I tell him as I vigorously dry his hair with the towel, according to senpai LCL is tough to get out of your hair when it dries.

"Thank you," I could barely hear him say but looking down with the towel blocking out most of his face I think I can see a small smile.

"Done! Now let the medical team looks you over," as I step aside to let the medics do their jobs I can't help but feel a tinsy bit embarrassed. Got a little too excited in greeting him, should have let them go first.

Oops.

"What's his status?" I ask as I walk up to them when I see they're done.

"Mostly healthy ma'am, he has a burn that will require some treatment on his right cheek," the team leader explains as Shinji turns so I can get a better look at his right cheek. And clear as day I can see a centimeter wide burn mark stretching from the right edge of his mouth to his ear. "We gave him some ointment he can apply after he's showered, other than that we suggest covering it with some gauze. Re-apply the ointment and gauze before you sleep at night and when you wake up in the morning ok kid?"

As Shinji nods in response I see the slightly burned section of the suit covering his left palm.

"What about his left hand?"

"Ah well he said that it feels fine, just a little sensitive he said, suit seemed to have kept him safe ma'am," the leader assured me.

After leaving the cages and parting with the medical team, after they heaped on their fair share of praise at their new hero, I turn to my little brother.

"Come on Shinji, it's getting late so I'll take you to one of the rooms on base so you can get some rest," and just as I finish I see him tense, it was almost unnoticeable and I had to look twice. Why…ah.

"Don't worry Shinji, I'll be right there ok?" I assure him.

"Oh…ok," he meekly responds but I can see him relax a bit…I think.

**HHHHHHH**

**Staff Quarters Wing, NERV HQ**

Walking in to the room, one of the larger ones with Shinji closely in tow. I can see Shinji's luggage piled in the corner of the room just as Misato said they would be. The Staff Quarters Wing of the building is _really_ empty since no one in their right mind would spend all their time on base even if you can theoretically have all you need to live down here. Mostly the rooms are used by R&amp;D people like myself when we get off work so late that we can't head home to sleep. That said people from all other departments can be found here catching some sleep after a really late shift. Even with that said only around a tenth of the rooms are ever really used at once.

Now though it's even emptier, it's actually eerily quiet, we didn't see a soul as we made our way to our room. Makes sense I suppose as everyone should be busy dealing with the fallout of the battle.

"Shinji go take a shower, be thorough too, especially with your hair to make sure all the LCL is washed off. The plugsuit is airtight so just mostly worry about your head, don't want your pillow smelling like that stuff. Yuck!"

"Of course," he replies and goes off to clean up. While I like how…looser? More expressed he is around me I guess somethings just don't change that quickly huh? Or is he still too shy to talk more? Hmmm…bah I will never understand men.

"Oh just leave the plug suit on the floor! Housekeeping will take care of it tomorrow, and keep the door open so I can drop off some clean clothes for you and your toothbrush and toothpaste," I call out as I grab some stuff from his luggage.

"Oh what about Misato-nee?" he asked as I hear the shower start and the curtain close.

"She's doing her job, being in charge of the clean-up. Don't worry, you did your job so let your sis do hers," I answer him. I leave out the MOUNTAIN of paperwork she has to do, I have a feeling he might feel really guilty since a lot of it will be from the collateral damage of the battle.

After he finished I dressed his wounds (and his hand were red but no burns, thank goodness) and I cleaned myself up. Always knew it was smart to keep a few extra pairs of clothes on hand at work, a lesson learned from a many late nights.

Getting into bed with Shinji in his surprisingly comfy looking blue pajamas (something tells me he didn't choose them for himself though) acting as my impromptu teddy bear I can't help but smile, I'm really liking this whole big sister thing.

**HHHHHHH**

**Meeting Room, Terminal Dogma Level, NERV HQ**

I can't help but sigh to myself, I'm getting on with my years, I don't know why Gendo insists I attend these meetings. Especially this late at night after our first battle with the angels. I know he likes to delegate the more "mundane" jobs like clean up to those bellow him but I think he forgets that as the Vice-Commander, I am one of those bellow him.

After this meeting I have a meeting with Dr. Akagi on what to do with the mess that the hazardous material disposal teams will be cleaning and washing off the buildings and streets. All that goes into storage here for proper disposal, we don't know what the other Angels will be like so we need to make sure our hazardous storage is emptied in case we need all the space. After that I need to get to a meeting with accounting so I can go over paying back the damages the battled cost on businesses and individuals.

AFTER THAT I have a meeting with Captain Katsuragi concerning Shinji's pay, rank and a few things the Europeans asked us to prepare for his arrival.

One would think after years of working as a researcher and university professor I would be used to late nights but luckily my student Yui, or at least when I did teach her, always made sure this old man was keeping himself healthy.

The meeting in question though is a meeting with the SEELE's inner circle, the Human Instrumentality Committee. They are the men who pull strings behind the shadows. The men who want to end the world as we know it for the sake of instrumentality, to rid the world of "loneliness and pain" if what they say is to be believed.

But we all know the old bastards want to be God's in a world of their own design.

Well to hell with what they want.

Gendo has his own goals.

I have my own goals.

But the committee has their use for now.

In the dark room I stand beside the Commander who sat behind a desk, hands tented in front of him, with light coming up from the section of floor underneath him.

As someone who handles a lot of the budget management I cringe seeing such a useless waste of money on petty theatrics.

In front of us were five gray monoliths, all holographic projections, each of them representing a member of the Human Instrumentality Committee. Each member shadowy and extremely powerful, influential and all holding a lot of power in the countries that make up the the UN which then controls NERV.

Across from us, represented by the monolith with white light coming from the floor with "SEELE 01 SOUND ONLY" written on it was the chairman of the committee, Keel Lorenz. He's the only person in the committee Gendo knows the identity of because of his direct involvement in our activities. On the left were two more monoliths that were the same as Keel's with the exception of their numbers were "SEELE 02" and "SEELE 03". SEELE 02 had green light coming up from the floor and according to NERV intelligence was a high ranking member of the US government. SEELE 03 had blue light coming up from bellow and is hypothesized to be the director of the Russian FSB. Across from them were the monoliths of SEELE 04 and SEELE 05. SEELE 04 had green lights and was the member of the committee that Gendo and I had come the closest to figuring out, we had tracked him down to a senior member of the French government. Last but not least was the monolith with red light and belonged to SEELE 05 who was the only female member.

While most of the committee frequently got on my nerves I do admit I am somewhat fond of SEELE 05, she was the youngest and newest member of the committee, joining after the sudden death of her predecessor. She was a practical and quiet woman, she complained little unlike her fellow committee members, something I appreciate. And, to my great amusement, she infuriated Gendo because he couldn't find anything on the woman other than she operated out of the UK. Not even the rest of the committee could answer him, the paranoid group kept their identities secret from each other and while Keele had found out who the other members were (including the old SEELE 05) even he had no idea who she was. Not that he seemed to care, the old SEELE 05 was by far the least useful member of the committee and he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Now that the more mundane topics have been discussed, let us move on to the battle!" cried out SEELE 02, Americans and their love for battle is something I would never understand.

"Yes…I see that the debut of the Eva was a success," commented SEELE 05 in her trademark calm voice.

"Yes it was a success. Startlingly so, wouldn't you say Ikari?"

"A success?" interjected SEELE 04, "a success?! The repairs on Unit-01…the cost alone could feed a city!"

"Irrelevant," Gendo replied, "The Angel was defeated and the damage to the Eva will be repaired in 36 hours, furthermore the damage does not affect our ability to calibrate Unit-01's systems in the meantime."

"And the upgrades?" Asked Keel.

"Will be done in the next 48 hours."

"Good."

"Hm," hummed SEELE 03, "your son's performance was most impressive Ikari."

"Yes I agree," interjected SEELE 04, "perhaps too effective?"

"What are you implying 04?" SEELE 05 asked.

"Nothing, just hoping that you keep your new dog on a tight leash, Ikari."

"Enough," Keele interjected, "we have gone off tangent. This is a time of celebration, the first of God's messengers has fallen and the end of the journey to instrumentality is finally coming. The relatively small amount of damage was a boon. Well done Ikari, this meeting is adjourned."

And with that the monoliths all start to disappear as each individual disconnects from the virtual conference call, starting with SEELE 05 and ending with SEELE 04.

Well, all except the monolith of SEELE 01, Keel Lorenz who had stayed connected.

"Is there something else Chairman?" Gendo asked.

"No, just reminding you that your role is to face the angels Ikari," and as he finished he too disconnected.

I turn to Gendo and say, "well it seems that picking up your son has set a few of them on edge."

"Hm," Gendo grunted in response, "they know that we only cooperate because the angels are the most immediate threat. Once they are gone they are afraid of the pieces I hold, yes it looks like my son will serve a good pawn after all. Perhaps we should offer something; funds perhaps, to the EU as a show of good faith for the asset they have given us."

"I'll see what I can do."

"I'll count on you sensei."

Do really believe that Shinji will be such a good tool for you Gendo? Careful your confidence does not become arrogance. While he may be something akin to an attack dog for NERV and while we may be the superiors of Captain Katsuragi and Lieutenant Ibuki you should also keep in mind that at the end of the day we do _not_ hold his leash.

We are not the masters of that dog and that dog would rip out your throat with a smile on its face if those two women ordered it to.

No, I have a feeling that he would still happily rip out your throat if those two just _let _him.

I sigh to myself, I am sorry for what happened to your son Yui, I will at least try to let him have as pleasant a time as I can.

Now back to work, perhaps I should meet with Captain Katsuragi before meeting with accounting…

**HHHHHHH**

**TOKYO-3, JAPAN**

**THE NEXT DAY**

As I walk up to the apartment building's elevator I look over my shoulder behind me and see Maya and Shinji. After the clean up…well the beginning of the clean up as I doubt it will be done by tomorrow but I need a break anyway to let Shinji settle in.

"Misato-san," I hear Maya call from behind and I turn to the frazzled looking girl, "I am never EVER going to let you drive me or Shinji anywhere!"

"What?" I gasp out, "what's wrong with my driving?! Look how fast we got here!"

"You went 100 in a 60 zone!"

"Pfft please Maya, I have a NERV license plate, the police just assume I'm on 'NERV business' and never arrest me!"

"Y-you are unbelievable!" she said before turning to Shinji with a stern face, "Shinji, make sure you don't abuse your privileges like your big-er biggest sis ok?"

"HEY!" I'm hurt, it's not abuse, I'm just taking advantage of the police not knowing better.

"Of course Maya-nee," Shinji replied to my mild annoyance, "I was told by Ferro-nee to grow up to be a good law abiding citizen…uh relatively speaking."

Right, working for the government or not, assassinations aren't, strictly speaking, legal. I mean according to the commander Shin-chan's Agency doesn't officially exist, which is saying something.

"Alright come on you two," I tell them as we reach my apartment door on the seventeenth floor. Outside the door was Shinji's luggage, courtesy of NERV Section-2, waiting to be brought inside.

"Is this safe Misato-nee?" I hear Shinji ask, "they could have been stolen."

"Oh no," I reassure him, "the building is kinda new and for NERV personnel only so its fine."

"Oh so does Maya-nee live here too?"

"No," I hear Maya answer him before hugging him from behind, "but I'll be moving in to the apartment next door ok? For now I'll stay with Misato-san."

**HHHHHHH**

It will be nice to have both Misato-nee and Maya-nee close by.

"Understood," I tell her in response.

I see Misato-nee with a big grin on her face as she opens the door, "WELCOME HOME SHINJI-KUN!"

I had to hold back a flinch, her sudden loud outburst almost triggering my training. Impressive considering only loud sounds associated with combat and danger, like a gunshot, should trigger it.

As Misato opens the door I remember that, according to Ferro-nee, people in Japan say something when they enter someone else's home…what was it again? I knew I should have asked her for refreshers on Japanese etiquette, I only ever learned it because she insisted I should know it on the basis of 'cultural identity' and without any use it got fuzzy.

Ok Shinji what did Ferro-nee say, you're an English gentleman so you should be polite at all times…ah yes.

As I walk in I say, "sorry to intrude," to Misato.

She smiles at me and says, "While I'm happy to see you have manners this is your home now Shinji-kun. Try again."

I tilt my head a bit to the side and hum, what do you say when you come home…I'm home?...ah.

"Tadaima." Which means 'I'm home.'

Home.

I have a home here in this new place, a place I belong, a place I can come back to and it feels….good.

As I turn away from Misato I see…a mess…well that's putting it lightly.

"Misato-san!" I hear Maya-nee scream out from behind me, "this…this…this is a mess!"

Again, that's putting it lightly.

Misato-nee's apartment isn't very large, smaller than the apartment I stormed back in London before I left for Japan. The entry way was small and led directly into the living room, the room itself wasn't anything fancy either just big enough for one couch, a coffee table and a television. The kitchen/ dining room, still visible from the entryway, wasn't very large with just a stove, a rectangular table with 6 chairs, a 4 burner gas stove with an oven, a small freezer and a fridge. On the left wall between the kitchen and living room were four doors, from what Misato-nee said on the drive over they're the three bedrooms and the bathroom. There was also a glass sliding door in the kitchen that led out to the balcony.

As for the mess there were garbage bags piled into the corner of the entry way and bear cans _everywhere_. There were cans on the floor of the living room and kitchen, I can see the top of a pile poking up from the sink in the kitchen, on the sofa, on the dining table and even two cans on the _ceiling _ fan somehow. There were also some used looking pots on the stove and from the smell I know that Misato-nee hadn't cleaned them out yet…that or something died here and the body hadn't been removed.

Truly Misato-nee is a…unique woman.

I hear Maya-nee sigh behind me and she puts a hand on my shoulder before saying, "so let's help your other big sis clean up her mess hm? What do you say little bro?"

I nod in response.

"Okay! Misato-san help me clean up here in the living room," she tells Misato-nee although I also hear her mutter under her breath that she wasn't exactly sure if it was the living room due to the mess. I doubt Misato-nee heard it, I only heard it due to the hyper awareness instilled into cyborgs during training. I also decide to keep quiet, I don't want my big sisters to fight. "Shinji you go handle the kitchen okay?"

"Of course, Maya-nee," I respond.

"Sure just let me get changed," said Misato-nee as she disappeared into her bedroom which was also the bedroom closest to the entry way.

I take off my shoes and leave them in the entry way before taking off my sweater and leaving it on top of the sofa before walking to the kitchen, making sure to pick up any cans along the way.

As I start filling bag after bag with beer cans, making sure to crush the cans before I put them in the bags I take notice how time consuming this is. After filling up the fifth trash bag I finally realize how much work clean-up can be. Next time I spend some time with some of the clean-up crew after a mission I'll make sure to thank them for their hard work. If cleaning up beer cans is this much work I can only imagine how much work picking up bullet casings, mopping up bodily fluids, and putting bodies and bits in bags can be much be much more time consuming.

After finally cleaning up all the beer cans in the kitchen I move on to the three pots on the stove. One was…a rice cooker's pot…why is this on the stove? I take it and fill it with water at the sink to make cleaning it easier. The second pot was empty, the inside was a bit burned for some reason though.

The last pot…oh dear sweet mother of God, what in the name of Her Majesty is…_this?!_

The large pot was around half full with some kind of…purple liquid that just screamed 'death' to me. Never in my life have I ever faced such a frightening…thing. Not even that Angel felt like this.

I carefully take it off the stove and put it on the floor, I don't want to spill whatever this is on a cooking surface like the stove or the counter top.

As I place it on the floor something moved! Underneath the surface something _moved_!

**HHHHHHH**

Ah this is the life, relaxing on my bed after a _rough_ few days. First an uncomfortable flight to the UK, seeing a cyborg child soldier in action, being handed the leash to said child soldier, an unexpected Angel attack, then a looooong night of supervising ground crews.

Now I know I told my….two younger siblings? Subordinate and sibling? Bah whatever, I told Shin-chan and Maya that I'd be changing but I think letting them clean up my mess by themselves is totally ok.

Oh don't judge me, I saw how comfy she looked snuggling up with her Shinji teddy bear in her arms when I went to go fetch Shinji for his first synch test. Oh I am soo going to use the photo I took with my phone as blackmail at some point in the future.

…I hope she's not a shotacon. With how much power her words have over him….

Also note to self, NEVER just bust into and ALWAYS knock before entering a room Shinji is in. Seriously the moment I burst into the room Shinji had somehow managed to draw his custom P226 and had it aimed right at my head and he did all that and still looked comfortable in bed.

Hell Maya didn't even wake up.

…I should help out before Maya orders him to get me…violently.

I get up and change out of my black dress and grab a new pair of underwear. Sooo I guess I want to be comfortable…ah, I put on a yellow tank top and reach for-

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"SHIT!" I scream out and slam the door open and run to the kitchen and I see…Shinji holding his custom P226R, the barrel was smoking and he was pointing it at a pot on the ground.

"What's wrong?!" I hear Maya shout as she too ran into the kitchen.

"SHINJI WHY DID YOU SHOOT A POT OF CURRY?!"

"It moved," I hear him say. He was still tense and ready to react to danger but I see him look at me from the corner of his eye, "Misato-nee I have been telling this to Ferro-nee ever since I started living with her but please put on something over your panties, you will catch a cold."

What?

"What?"

"Look down…and curry does not move Misato-nee," he explained in an even voice, "it is also not purple…I do apologize for the noise, I did not have time to retrieve my suppressor from my luggage."

"It's ok Shinji-kun," Maya reassured him with a smile, "when it comes to danger assessment I trust you."

WHAT?!

"Maya he just shot a pot! Inside my apartment!"

"Misato-san have you looked at it?" Shinji asked me.

"No," I tell her as I walk up to Shinji so I can look over him at the pot, "I know I'm a bad cook bu-sweet mother of God."

"See?"

"What should we do Maya?" I ask her wearily. To my horror I realize that Shinji shot it with four .45 ACP rounds and I don't see _any_ holes in the pot. Oh dear God what have I done? What have I created?

"I-I'll call NERV HQ, ask them to send over a biohazard disposal team from the clean-up site across town."

"Good call Maya I'll stand guard with Shinji," and I go into my room to grab my pistol…and a pair of shorts.

**HHHHHHH**

An hour and a visit from the hazmat team later my impromptu family is gathered at the table, eating take-out of course since we all had agreed my cooking was terrible and I should replace all my pots and pans before someone cooks in the kitchen.

"Misato-san," Maya calls from her position across the table and beside Shinji, "I don't think it will be healthy to have take-out or instant food every day, maybe you can but I don't like Shinji living like this. I can't cook all the time either, my job will have me working all kinds of weird hours."

I can't help but sigh in agreement before drinking my 5th can of bear,"_I _don't think I should be cooking anything past cupped noodles."

I see Shinji raise his hand and I smile at his shyness, "you can speak as you wish at home Shin-chan."

"Oh," he mutters before clearing his throat and speaking, "I can cook."

"Oh?" I raise a brow in curiosity and I see Maya do the same as well.

"Ah...um I took cooking lessons back in London."

"Is…that a part of your training?" Hmm I don't think I saw that in his training files…what use will that be? Infiltration work perhaps? But a 14 year old child chef would _attract _attention right? Maybe I should ask Kaji, he's into spy stuff…actually no.

"No," Shinji's response snaps me back to reality, "many handlers insist their cyborgs pick up hobbies to pass time in between training and jobs. I chose cooking, it was a practical choice….but I enjoy it."

Maya and I smile at him, it's good to know there are things he likes to do outside of work.

"And the cello?" Maya asked him.

"Ah, some of the handlers thought it would be 'cute' to have an orchestra and insisted the cyborgs learn a musical instrument in their free time," he explained, doing a finger quote when he said 'cute.'

"Will you play for us sometime?"

"Of course," Shinji replied with a small smile.

I smile again at the scene in front of me, as someone who has lost their parents at a young age I find the new sensation, the feeling of belonging to a family, warm and….well nice, really really nice.

Looking at the clock I see it's getting late and with all three of us needing to wake up early tomorrow, and since Shinji needs to know a few things from my meeting with the Vice-Commander last night I might as well tell him now so we can all get some sleep. So I go off to get the box and folder of papers in my room and come back.

*Ahem!*

I clear my throat to get their attention which works.

"Shinji I had a meeting with the Vice-Commander about your living conditions and since it's getting late and I want to get my sleepy time I'll tell you now, ok?" I ask him and he nods in response so I place the file folder in front of him and take out his school papers and ID.

"Ok Shinji you'll be going to Tokyo-3 Middle School-something wrong?" I ask him when I see him frown.

"I request to stay with you and Maya-nee at NERV, I'm your cyborg so I should be close to protect you."

I sigh and ruffle his hair, "Shinji don't worry, NERV security is very good and that's an _order._"

I see him tense before relaxing and nodding, I suppress a guilty cringe, I didn't want to use his conditioning to do what I want him to but rules are rules. Besides socializing with normal kids should be good for him…I hope.

"I see," he concedes, "but I still think I should inform you that I already have a bachelor's degree from university."

Maya and I blink a few times in surprise before both of say "what?"

"I already have-"

"No," I interrupt him, "I mean when? Where? Why?"

"Ah, it was recent. Cyborg's are all given a top of the line education so if we choose to retire into civilian life in the future we are productive members of society although Ferro-nee said that it may be a way for the higher ranking officers to appease some guilt in using us. We were all taught at the cyborg dorms in our free time by professor's from various universities in the UK although our paper work has us as graduate from Oxford, I majored in human anatomy and minored in history."

"Huh," I mutter, that…that is impressive. They really didn't spare any expense when making their cyborgs. I also wonder how would he get along with Asuka? She just recently graduated as well from what I heard and as the pilot of Unit-02 their meeting is just waiting to happen…oh! They'll make a cute couple…but back to business, "…well you still have to go, understood?"

"Affirmative Misato-nee"

I nod, "good, these here are your transfer papers and your school ID. Maya can you drive him to school tomorrow to handle the transfer? I have to head back to NERV first thing in the morning."

"Is it ok if I come by early and have breakfast here then?," Maya asked.

"Sure"

"Sure no problem then," she said while smiling at her little brother.

"Thanks Maya," I thank her before taking out his work papers, "as for your identity at NERV the Vice-Commander had seen it fit to assign you a rank since the pilot of Unit-02 is a Lieutenant in the European Air Force even though she is technically a member of NERV. The thing is the EU does not want to acknowledge that their cyborg program exists, so to preserve the secret, we and the EU government had worked a solution. So it is now my pleasure to welcome you to SPECTRE, Operative Ikari." I explained to him with a smirk.

The European Union's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance (or as more commonly known as SPECTRE) is an extremely secretive branch of the EU military. Their operatives are rumored to carry out everything from espionage to assassinations to military raids and special operations. Fitting cover really, Shinji would be at home there if he was older. Also it perfectly explains his abilities, well as long as he keeps his strength and speed to human levels. I have to hand it to the Vice-Commander, he was surprisingly prepared.

"Haha" a small laugh brings me and Maya's surprised attention to Shinji who looked like he was holding in his laughter, we had never heard him laugh before.

"What's so funny Shin-chan?" I ask him and he blinks a few times, in what I assume is surprise.

"Ah well SPECTRE doesn't exist, it's a front organization so that entities like The Agency which aren't acknowledged to exist can operate with more legal groups and organizations," he explains.

Maya and I smile too at the irony of the situation.

"Well back to business, your handlers at NERV are Maya and I so nothing will really change," I explain before handling him a new NERV ID. It was a glossy black card with his picture, rank/title and name, the word SPECTRE, his identification code, and NERV logo; all standard for a NERV ID except for the small golden gun under his picture.

"This is your permanent NERV ID card, the one we gave you earlier was just something we put together so you could get through the security scanners and will stop working tonight so don't lose this ok? It will act as your ID for both NERV and the city itself, the Vice-Commander has already cleared you to carry firearms as well so make sure to present your ID if a police officer asks why you're carrying a gun or something. It will also act as your debit card, linked to your bank account where your pay will be deposited every two weeks. Shinji you can take the room next to mine, and I'll see you tomorrow Maya. Now with that I'm going to sleep. Good night you two."

I hear Maya try to tell something but I ignore her as I quickly finish my tenth can of beer and quickly go off to my room to hide my frustration at the subject of his pay.

Seriously he makes more than TWICE as much as me!

**HHHHHHH**

Okay Misato never ever again will you drink ten cans of beer and go to sleep right after.

See? now it's three in the morning and now you have to get up off your ass to go pee. You have to wake up early tomorrow to get to work too you dumbass!

Opening the washroom door after washing my hands and turn off the light I walk past Shinji's room and I hear...something. It was soft and and barely audible but I hear...something.

I open the door and hear a soft sobbing coming from the bed but it stopped almost immediately as I opened the door.

"Shinji-kun?" I ask as I try and look into the now silent room. The room was dark with only a hint of moonlight trickling through the curtains of the window.

I click on the light and I see Shinji placing his pistol back on the night stand, right forgot to knock to let him know its me.

I walk over to the young boy and I see he was shaking slightly and as I sit on his bed I can see him quietly crying. His head was tilted down and since I was taller his fringe was hiding his eyes.

"Hey," I call to him softly, "what's wrong? Why are yo-"

"W-where is Ferro-nee?" he asked shakily. He looks up and I could see his eyes are blood shot and he looked a bit frantic, like he couldn't see me. "W-where is she?!"

Fuck, Ferro told me about this before we boarded our VTOL. That even if he was consciously ok he might go into something resembling withdrawal but not for a drug but for _her._ With the unconscious mind becoming more active in sleep the conditioning hits that much harder. She said that it usually isn't a problem but when a cyborg is assigned to a new handler, usually to do the previous one being KIA, the conditioned attachment to the original handler and the loss of their presence causes...this.

The cyborg panics in their sleep, or that's what The Agency's psychologists believe, and then they wake up in this dazed and panicked state. According to Ferro most cyborgs that have their handlers killed, something that has only happened ten times in the program's history, they usually just...dispose of the cyborg. With the first two cases they tried to adapt them to civilian life but the...psychological damage was done.

Only two cyborgs have even been successfully assigned a new cyborg but that was after three months of extensive conditioning and even after that the new handlers had to tread carefully at first. Ferro told me what to do at night for the first few weeks and I was an idiot to forget until now.

"Come here," I say quietly as I bring the panicking Shinji into a soft embrace. "Shh its okay, its okay Shinji. I'm here see? I'm not going to leave you and Ferro is in England waiting for you once this war is over ok?"

He nods as he cries into my chest. I rub his back and whisper words of encouragement and support. I couldn't help but pity the kid as he cried himself to sleep, he has so little control over what he feels.

Seeing him asleep I lie him down before lifting up the sheets and gently crawl over next to him before covering us both. I take one of his hands in mine as we lie together to give him the physical assurance that he won't be abandoned just like Ferro suggested. Maya had been quicker on the uptake than me, I wish her schedule was more regular. She never let this happen last night.

For the first time in my life I lie in bed beside a guy and have not thoughts of sex or passion and instead the reality of what I have to be to the young boy finally sinks in fully.

Don't worry Shinji, Misato-nee learned her lesson. For all that your putting on the line for humanity, for me, I'll be the best big sister I can be.

**HHHHHHH**

**THE NEXT DAY**

Well with breakfast eaten, shower taken, teeth brushed and school clothes put on I should start getting ready to pack up my things for school.

I have to admit I am excited to go to school even though Misato-nee said she couldn't tell that I was from the way I acted. I would imagine schooling for civilians is very different from the education us cyborgs received, amount of money spent on an individual cyborg being much greater than the money spent on a civilian aside the environment us cyborgs were schooled in is very different from what I know how normal kids are schooled.

For one I know that normal kids' focus in school is the school work itself with some of them joining clubs and other extracurricular activities like sports. For us cyborgs the focus of our education was first and foremost combat training. Marksmanship, gun maintenance, close quarters combat, breaching and clearing, sniping and field craft, wilderness survival, blending into civilian society, hand-to-hand and knife fighting, interrogation training, interrogation and torture resistance training, emotional control and conditioning and other relevant subjects. Our more conventional education consisted of math, geography, history, sciences and languages so in that aspect it's not so different from normal schools. Although we were taught more than one language. What we were taught usually consisted of the primary language of the country that we are stationed at and a few other languages consisting of languages out handlers think are appropriate. In my case I was taught English, French, German, Italian and Japanese.

Us cyborgs are only taught more…mundane subjects in between combat training sessions and work and even then how many classes we attend is up to our handlers or us. That means not all cyborgs have a university/ college degree like I do, although most my age are close to receiving a high school diploma already.

I just never had many hobbies outside cooking and the cello so I had time to attend a lot of classes.

Now laid out on my bed before me is everything I'm bringing to school today and am planning to bring to school every day, luckily according to what Misato-nee said this morning I don't have to worry about text books or note books since the school provides all the supplies. And there isn't much to get anyway, just the school laptop and a notebook for math.

So on my bed I have all the essentials I need for a successful day at school.

H&amp;K MP7A1 submachine gun with Aimpoint Micro T-1 red dot sight-check!

One fully loaded 20 round MP7 magazine-check!

Four fully loaded 40 round Mp7 magazines-check!

My custom P226R and four loaded magazines-check!

6-inch combat knife-check!

Two flashbang, two fragmentation and two incendiary grenades-check!

Pencil, pen and calculator-check!

Ok that should be everything.

"What are you doing Shin-chan?" I hear Misato say as she walks into my room, "ready to go to scho-what are you doing?"

I turn around and give her a confused look, "Packing my things for school." I see Misato-nee's eyebrow twitch for some reason. "Misato-nee?"

"Shinji…why do you have a submachine gun ready to be packed into your bag?"

"Ah, well the MP7 with its compact design, retractable stock and short 20 round magazine can be easily fit into my bag. The armor piercing 4.6x30mm rounds will help against enemies with body armor, and I decided to only carry 4 extra 40 round magazines because I need to reserve space for the school laptop and lunch," I explain to her. In all honesty I also wanted to bring my AS VAL too but I think carrying around a guitar case may make me stand out too much.

Also I want to carry a plugsuit in my bag as well, if an Angel arrives I can change into it while NERV comes to pick me up. Hm I'll bring it up with Maya-nee on our drive to school, she's involved in the tech side of things…oh I should also remind her about the new paint scheme for my Eva I want.

Purple is a little…garish for a military weapon, experimental or no.

"Shinji…grenades? Really?"

"Yes really." I wonder if Misato-nee is feeling ill? Does she think the grenades are a hallucination? "Misato-nee are you ok? Are you ill?"

"No just…_why_ are you bringing grenades to school?"

"Are they not allowed in civilian schools?"

"Uhhh no…I don't think a specific rule exists at Tokyo-3 Middle about grenades…"

"Then is something the matter?" I ask with my head slightly tilted to the side, this is confusing, I don't see what the problem is. Back at 'Hogwarts' most of us brought more than this, I thought I was being minimalistic.

"Nothing," she mutter with a sigh, "just…just remember that we're going to get you a cellphone after school and make sure you don't pull out your weapons out unless necessary? Understood?"

I nod and she walks out muttering about grabbing a beer before heading to work, strange.

Turning around I pack my things for school. I make sure to put the extra MP7 magazines into the pouches of a bandolier I can easily sling on in an emergency while my P226R and spare magazines are in their shoulder holster so I can throw it on quickly. I place them and my grenades, pens, pencils and calculator into my bag pack before sheathing my knife. Pulling up my right pant leg so I strap it on and let the pant leg down to have it hidden by my clothes. Hm having all my guns in my bag feels…uncomfortable, I feel almost naked. I'll ask Misato-nee to get me a small sub-compact pistol, something I can carry on me even if I'm in my uniform and when I'm not it can serve as a back-up.

When operating in Europe the colder weather meant I always had a sweater or a jacket to wear over a shoulder or belt holster for my P226R. In Japan though it is summer all the time so the school uniform is just a short sleeved dress shirt and pants made of a relatively thin fabric. That means I need something small to carry on my person in case I need a gun immediately. Since I'm also only fourteen years old I'd look conspicuous if I tried to hide something like my P226R underneath my clothing, I'd need something like a…hmm perhaps a Glock-43 or a SIG P938 oh or I can go classic with a Walther PPK, I'll ask Misato-nee about what I can get…actually maybe I'll ask Maya-nee instead since she seems more likely to say yes. She did insist during breakfast that a modified plugsuit wasn't a reward since they didn't have any made for me yet it wouldn't take any real effort to modify it with a few pouches before manufacturing them.

We may be loyal to our handlers and be glad to be their tools but we cyborgs are not afraid to take advantage of handlers that are eager to spoil us, contrary to what many believe we do still have some childish traits.

Still, I don't think Misato-nee approves what I carry to school for some reason.

Strange.

**HHHHHHH**

**TOKYO-3 MIDDLE SCHOOL**

"Good morning Hikari," one of my classmates greet me as he walks into the class room and I greet her back in return.

Sunshine coming in through the windows of the classroom and a healthy number of students coming in, today is a good day, especially considering that….monster attack or something two days ago. That said I hope Toji is ok though, I heard he should be fine from the staff but he hasn't shown up in school yet…

I let out a sigh, now is not the time to think negative thoughts, from what the principle told me this morning we have a transfer student coming in today if my knowledge is correct…actually come to think about it when I walked past the school gate this morning I saw someone in a NERV uniform drive off so perhaps she dropped off the new student?

I sit down at my desk at the front row close to the door and take out my school issue laptop. The nice thing about the school is since its situated in Tokyo-3, a city owned and ran by NERV where most people are NERV employee's families, is that the school isn't shy with funds. Case and point, the bright red lap tops the school gives to all students for FREE that replaces all text books and note books for all classes except math. The laptop isn't cheap either, its well-built with plenty of software already installed.

Logging into the school's wireless intranet I open up my class email account, as the class representative I need to stay on top of what happens in class.

Now let's see…oh an email on the new kid.

His name is Shinji Ikari and he's fourteen years old, his birthday is June 06, 2001 so he's older than me huh? Hm according to this he's coming from England? Wow, maybe I should ask him for help in English, not my best subject.

Huh no other info on his background other than his current legal guardian is a woman named Misato Katsuragi and emergency contact is one Maya Ibuki.

Looking at the clock I see class should be starting soon so I stand up and yell at the class to shun them into silence and get them back into their seats.

As the homeroom teacher enters the room I start my duties as the class representative.

"STAND! BOW! SIT!"

And the class and I do so before the teacher stars talking, "alright everyone I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and from looking around I'm happy to see most of you guys have come today. As for all your classmates that are absent just rest assured that everyone is ok after the incident two days ago. Now with that said I have news good news! We have a transfer student."

"Why weren't we told about it before sensei?" I hear a student ask.

"Well he's only recently enrolled," she answered.

"Is it a girl sensei?" a boy in the back asks and I can't help but shake my head, boys and their priorities.

"Well why don't I bring him in?" she asks with a smile before gesturing at the door, "you can come in now."

And as the door slid open a boy walks in dressed in the Tokyo-3 Middle School boys uniform of a white dress shirt (although I see he has kept his untucked unlike most boys) and black dress pants. He had dark chestnut brown hair, average build and beautiful deep dark blue eyes.

What did I just think about his eyes?

Actually I already hear some girls whispering amongst each other near the back and I think I already know why. I have to admit he is good looking in a bishounen way and with the school dance coming several months later I think I already know what they're talking about.

Seriously though, he hasn't even introduced himself.

"Now introduce yourself," sensei said with a smile to which the transfer student gave a small nod. I also notice his calm demeanor that vaguely reminds me of Rei Ayanami although I can see a hint of something on his face…curiosity.

"Hello everyone," he greeted the class in a calm voice with a small shy smile that sent a few girls squealing, "my name is Shinji Ikari, please take care of me."

And the class exploded into chaos with many students blasting the poor kid in questions although he seemed to not be fazed by it all, I suppose he grew up in a noisy and chaotic environment. He just waited for the teacher to finish regaining control.

"Now now!" the teacher chided, "if you have a question raise your hand."

"Where are you from?" A boy asked beside me.

"England or specifically London," Shinji answered, "but I have spent time in various places in Europe such as the rest of the British Isles, Germany, France and Italy."

Wow he's well-travelled and as I turn around to glance at the class I see a few people were impressed with how well travelled he was.

"Do you have a girlfriend?!" a girl asked and I couldn't help but face palm, girls seriously? Already?

"No," he answered to the audible delight of girls and the audible frustration of some of the boys. I swear this class…

"What are your hobbies?" a boy asked, "do you do sports?"

Instead of answering right away he cutely tilted his head, eliciting a few happy sighs from the girls as he hummed for a few seconds before answering, "I like to cook, play the cello and I…do martial arts?" Why did that seem to end in a question? And I wonder if we can swap recipes, no one else in class cooks.

"Oh?! What style?"

"Several," he replied. I suppose he prefers to answer in short sentences…er phrases when possible.

I raise my hand as my curiosity over his background has peeked, "what school did you go to before?" I did find it strange.

"I have recently graduated from the University of Oxford. I majored in human anatomy and minored in history," he calmly replied like what he said wasn't completely _amazing_!

"Wow," I, sensei and many of the class mutter.

Sensei shook her head and looked at the clock before her eyes widened, "ok one more question for Shinji-kun before we have to get class going."

"Oh!" I hear a familiar voice mutter out as he raised his hand, he was Toji's friend Kensuke Aida, "are you the pilot of that robot?"

What? Oh he can't be serio-

"Yes I am" Shinji replied nonchalantly.

Needless to say the class exploded into chaos again.

*Sigh*

Well at least Shinji seems interesting.

**NEXT ON TOY SOLDIER - CHAPTER 3: SCHOOL DAYS PART 2 **(FRIENDS AND TENTACLE MONSTERS)

**Author's Note:**

So here it is! FINALLY the next chapter of Toy Soldier.

I don't know when the next chapter will be out but I do have a bonus chapter for this story, a story of when Shinji and Ferro first met, 80% finished and should be up in a a few days so look forward to that.

As for this chapter...

If some people wondered why the Sachiel battle was in the beginning of the chapter was b/c I wanted readers that haven't read this story in months wouldn't need to reread to be up to date. Also since this series is written in limited first-person I wanted to show the battle from another view point, the view of a normal human, just like Maya and Misato's perspective of the raid in London.

Also this chapter ended up being very different from what I originally planned since I ended up using most of it for set up and bonding between Maya, Misato and Shinji. That meant that the only the part of Shinji getting ready for school and his introducion made it into the chapter.

That means that the next chapter will contain a lot of what was originally supposed to be in this one such as Shinji meeting Rei and the fight (if you can call it that) with Toji.

And as you can see i have decided to move my AN to the end just like all my other stories.


	4. Bonus 01: Death and Rebirth

**BONUS CHAPTER 01: DEATH AND REBIRTH**

**NEW KYOTO, JAPAN**

**2004**

Well this is the last time I'm going to get involved in a long distance relationship again, seriously the bitch breaks up with me after I take time off to visit her all the way here in Japan. Does she know how hard it was to have enough time to fly all the way to from the UK to Japan with all the wars happening since Second Impact? Even with the Valentine Treaty being signed three years ago, violence and unrest is still common place in many places with small local wars and terrorists groups popping up on a semi-regular basis.

Well I hope you learned your lesson Ferro, only date women from the EU, much easier to see someone on the same continent.

And when I get back I have to start looking through hospitals to pick out a kid to turn into a cyborg…I sigh to myself, Ferro why did you chose to accept that transfer from Section 2 to Section 3 again?

God I need a drink.

Walking down the street I see a bar and open the door. I didn't see the name of the place but as I walk in I make a note to remember this place if I ever visit New Kyoto again, this place is really nice. It reminds me a lot of the pubs back home in London, warm brown wood and a western aesthetic, something I'm sure I was lucky to find all the way here in Japan. The place is not too busy, lucky for me since I don't really need someone to hit on me, not when I'm this irritated and can't shoot them since I'm not above the law here in Japan.

I see that a few tables are taken but I don't want to take one and have someone who thinks they have 'game' taking a seat with me. Turning to the bar I see its empty for some reason except…a kid? On one of the bar stools was a small kid around three or four years old, he was still too small to reach the bar top so a few thick books were piled on top of the bar stool to act as a booster. He was a cute kid, brown hair and blue eyes and dressed in a red shirt and blue shorts and he was currently enjoying what seemed to be a plate of chicken strips and French fries and drinking what I assume is apple juice. I wonder why he's here? Bar tender's kid?

I walk up to the bar and see that the bartender, a large and intimidating man in a dress shirt and bow tie and for some reason he started to glare at me.

"You look like a nice lady but if you make trouble for the kid I'll literally kick you out, you got that?" he told me in perfect English as I sit beside down beside the boy.

"Oh I'd never. I work for a government agency back in Europe that looks after kids. I love kids so I'd never hurt him," I respond with a smile. What I told him wasn't exactly a lie, I do actually LOVE kids but the agency I now work for uses kids as assassins. Granted the ones they use are kids that are on death's doorstep so in a way we do save them. Also his English really was perfect, looks like I don't have to use that translation app on my phone or rely on the few Japanese phrases I acually know

"Good," he grunted with a nod, "so what will it be?"

I tell him I want some of the local beer, I've been curious to try some ever since coming here and as for food I told him to surprise me.

Glancing over to the kid I smile as I see he's so busy stuffing his face that he hasn't seemed to have noticed me.

"Hey there," I say to him and he turns to me and he was absolutely adorable. Big dark blue eyes, crumbs on his face and with his mouth full of food he kind of looked like a chipmunk with his puffy cheeks. "My name is Ferro. What's your name kiddo?" I ask him and I have to stop from palming my face, he probably won't know what I'm saying.

I see him chew faster and swallow before answering, "I am Shinji, nice meet you."

Well I'll be, it was a bit broken and the accent was a bit thick but his English wasn't all that bad. I knew they teach English here but I doubt he had gotten very far at his young age.

"Your English is very impressive Shinji, do you go to a private school?" I ask him and I get a cute response with his head tilted to the side and a questioning look on his face so I ask him again but slower and with simpler words. "How is your English so good?"

"Oh uh," he sputters and pauses to think out his response, "I…don't lot to do. I study lots."

I frown a little bit, doesn't he have friends? I know education is very important but he should be playing too, his childhood is very important and only happens once after all.

Seeing that my food has arrived I take a bite, I don't know what it is or what it's called except it's some kind of meat on a stick and it goes well with Japanese beer. Hm I'll make a note to try to find some back in London, while I prefer the beer from back home I do think having some Japanese beer will be a good change of pace from time to time.

I let out a content sigh as I finish my drink before ordering another.

Oh sweet sweet beer.

"Hey barkeep," I call to the bartender as he was just idly swiping the top of the bar.

"Yes? Something I can get you?" he asks me as he gives Shinji another glass of apple juice…or I hope its apple juice.

"Is he your kid?" I ask as I nod at the boy beside who was enjoying his juice and watching us with obvious curiosity.

"Wh-oh no," he explains as he starts to clean some glasses to my right before gesturing to a _very very_ drunk looking man sitting in the corner. "Shinji boy here is with him over there, I don't know his name but I don't think that he's the dad, guardian probably, uncle or something I think. Sometimes the kid comes in with bruises."

I take a look at Shinji who looked slightly lost with his head cutely tilted to the side, obviously unable to keep up with the speed the English words are being exchanged. I take a good look at him and I do see a slight blemish that looks to be the remnants of a bruise under his left eye.

"Can't you do something about it?" I ask him and he gives me a tired sigh in response.

"We did but…"

"But?"

"But it was like something was keeping the authorities at bay, stopping them from doing something. The old man who takes care of him is a bastard but he likes to drink here and bring the kid. The old coot can get crazy but usually behaves himself while he's here and since he brings the kid here I can at least make sure he gets a good meal. Another bonus is I can easily keep an eye on him here, my bar isn't that busy so it's no big deal."

"Isn't that a problem? This place not being busy I mean."

"No, I'm retired JSSDF, I get plenty to live off of with my pension and savings. This place is more of a hobby that just breaks even. So-"

*CRASH!* *BANG!*

Turning around I see Shinji's guardian has shattered a glass of beer and thrown a chair and tipped over a table.

Hearing a sigh I turn to the bartender.

"Looks like I have to kick him out before he hurts someone _again_," he mutters before turning to Shinji with an apologetic look and tone, "gomenasai Shinji-kun."

"Mmn," Shinji shakes his head with a sad knowing smile, "sayonara, Oji-san."

And just like that Shinji walks out…well more like dragged out by his uncle.

The moment he walks out the door I wait a few dozen seconds before paying and walking out the door, the street is fairly straight with the nearest intersection roughly two minutes away so catching up with them will be easy. As I walk out into the rain I curse not bringing an umbrella with me.

Spotting Shinji and his drunk guardian down the road I make sure to rack the slide of the Sig P226R pistol in my pocket to ready a round (just in case he's a violent drunk) and make sure to follow at a distance. I know I have no jurisdiction here but I at least want to make sure the kid gets home safe, I have a bad feeling about tonight and if I learned anything when I was commando with Section 2 it was to trust my gut.

* * *

"Come on you damn kid," uncle shouted as we walked down the road.

It's scary. It's dark and the rain is loud and sometimes lightning and thunder comes and scares me.

And I don't feel safe around uncle either.

Why did dad leave me to this scary man? Where is mama?

Where is Auntie Kyoko? What about Asuka-chan?

Why Shinji see them anymore?

Why is uncle and his family so mean to Shinji?

Did Shinji do something wrong?

If he did, Shinji is sorry.

Shinji just wants to see mama again, wants to see everyone again.

I-

*SCREEEEECH!*

Turning right I see a car, tires screeching and hurting my ears and coming towards us and-

*CRASH!*

The car hits me and my uncle, pinning him against a wall and I tumble and skid down the road.

I feel my skin peel and burn against the road as I stop underneath a bus shelter on my back.

"Ugh," I groan, "ouch."

I try to get up but I can't and instead pain.

Pain

Pain

Painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain

PAIN

IT HURTS!

My arms and legs feel broken and my chest burns like fire and I can feel something warm start to pool around me.

I hear someone running up to me shouting something, they sound worried. I hope they are okay, she sounds familiar as well…like that nice lady at the bar. Why couldn't dad leave me with someone like her? She was pretty and really nice, nothing like uncle.

My head feels all woozy and as my vision blurs I can't help but be glad that at least I'm out of the rain.

* * *

"DAMNIT! NOOO!" I scream out as I see the car crash at the intersection and I break out into an all out sprint down to the intersection.

As I reach the intersection I see the car, an old pre-Impact model. The car was smashed into the guardian and into a wall. Seeing the car and Shinji's guardian I know from experience that the driver and guardian are both dead as dead can be.

"Shinji where are you buddy?" I mutter as I start to search for him and damnit I can't find him! God no please don't tell me he's smashed under the car oh no no no no no no.

"God no pl-what the?" I see a trail of blood, it's _really_hard to see with the dark street and rain pouring down and washing it away but I see a trail of blood leading down to a bus shelter.

Where I see a small body.

"Shinji!" and I immediately run to his side and see his body was a mess, there was blood _everywhere_, he was lying in a pool of his own blood. I quickly call emergency services before performing what basic care I can and stay by his side under the bus shelter and hold his hand. He was unconscious now but from what I've been told sometimes unconscious people could still sense the world around them. Sounds and touch and the like so I hope I can give him some support.

As I wait an idea comes to mind. With his guardian dead I'm sure he'll be handed off to someone else and if his father or whoever left him with his current guardian is still in charge I doubt the new guardian will be good for Shinji. And from the wounds I see I know he wouldn't last long anyway, even with today's medical technologies and techniques I know that it will only extend his life, I've seen people die from less severe wounds back in my time as a commando.

But that's only considering top-of-the line medical procedures available in _civilian_ hospitals.

So I make a choice, I'll give him a new chance at life. It won't be an easy life but I'll be with him every step of the way.

Taking out my satellite phone I dial up a direct connection to The Agency.

"Rainbow this is Dragonfly, I need you to move some Japanese assets. I've found my Toy Soldier, I'll contact you again when I arrive at the hospital. Dragonfly out."

* * *

**Six Months Later**

'**Hogwarts,' UK**

"Will he wake up soon?" I ask the other person in the room.

I'm currently standing in a dark room, it was an observation room with sound proof walls. It was dark and quiet as the only other person in the room, Sierra my old partner from my days in Section 2 who was sitting at a computer, were both watching the same thing.

In front of me, behind a two-way mirror, I could see Shinji lying in bed. The room he's staying in is completely sterile, light grey walls with no windows and just some florescent lighting on the ceiling. Other than that the room was empty except for the white bed with a white pillow and white sheets that Shinji is currently sleeping in. While I couldn't see them I knew there were also microphones hidden in the room so we could hear what was happening inside, right now all we could hear was peaceful breathing.

The last part of cyborg conversion happens in this room, imprinting. The conditioning drugs, which will be given all at once as a cocktail daily from today onwards, has to be given in stages at first to prevent shock and death of the subject. Last night the last of the drugs were finally added to his daily dose and with that he's set to imprint on the first person he sees.

"He should be awake in a few minutes. Nervous?" Sierra asked calmly. She was dressed in full combat gear with a UTS-15 Gen 3 shotgun leaning on the computer table at the ready. She was my back-up in case the cyborg turns violent and needless to say we both hope she won't be necessary...for various reasons.

"Y-yeah," I breathed out and I'm not lying. It had been six months since I met that adorable boy in Japan, getting him to the UK had been easy enough, a few bribes, the use of some of our Japanese agents and a few deleted files and it was easy enough to get him onto one of our flights. That said he almost didn't make the journey, his injuries were worse than what I thought.

A few days after that he had started the months long process of being….improved into something leaning on super human.

It wasn't pleasant.

The doctors had let the handlers, who wanted to, visit the cyborgs in between procedures and I definitely made use of that. While it helps ease my conscience to see him so happy to see me, it tore my heart when he started to forget about his past and eventually he forgot when we first met. Now his oldest memory of me was when I started to visit him.

What he didn't know is I also made sure to keep an eye on him during his operations and procedures as well, it was my decision to stain this poor innocent child with the darkness of the world and I plan to take responsibility for it.

It was…horrific.

The screams, dear God the _SCREAMS._

Even when I sleep all I hear are the screams.

Every time they injected some chemical concoction into him I would see his body tense and his back arch in pain as he screamed and screamed and screamed 'till his voice was hoarse and _screamed _until no sound came out.

I asked him you know?

I sometimes asked him what it felt like as his bones were reinforced to be unbreakable and nerves were altered to be faster and stronger. He said it felt like his bones were being turned into glass and made to shatter over and over and _over_ again. That when his nerves were altered he felt like his entire body was filled with _fire._

I asked him what he felt when he was recovering when some of his muscles were replaced with artificial muscle, he said that it felt like insects were crawling inside his skin and eating him alive.

The worst was when they installed his optical implants. Coming into the room to see bandages covering his eyes is something I still have nightmares about. He had to be restrained to the bed so he wouldn't try to _claw out_ his own eyes. When I asked why I hadn't heard of any other of the cyborgs in his batch doing that they said they had tried out a new experimental implant on him.

And they did that _without_ asking me.

I think the bitch who thought that was a good idea is still recovering from when I kneecapped her. If she wasn't considered 'essential personnel' I would have gave her a free demo on the effects of a 9x19mm Parabellum round has on a human skull.

The three hour long lecture I had to sit through as punishment was totally worth it. Not like they can do much to me anyway since I'm one of their most experienced handler candidates and with my prolonged contact with Shinji there was the risk he was already starting to get attached to me.

And considering that there were plenty of scientists looking for such a high paying job, how most Section 2 operators had no interest joining the brand new Section 3, and how much time and money were spent on Shinji already I knew I was in no real trouble.

All the scientists and doctors made sure to keep me informed on all his procedures after that, even though they were all standard...well as standard as anything The Agency does can be called that.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," my friend reassured me. "You love kids. Besides he remembers you from all the visits, so you already have a good impression on him."

"I guess you're right…"

"Do you have plans for what to do in the next few months?"

I smile at her attempt to bring the conversation to lighter topics. To give the cyborgs enough time to heal and recover properly, as well as let the handlers adjust and maybe get to know their charges better if they wish, The Agency gives us three months of almost free time. I say almost because there are light exercises we have to have them go through and their education, both mundane and work related, starts as well. Other than that we have free reign on what to do.

"Hmmm…well I was thinking of asking him what he wants to do. If he wants to go anywhere specific and stuff. Have any recommendations? You adopted a kid a year ago right?"

"He's a baby. He doesn't really-wait. He's waking up."

"Okay," I say more to myself than her, "now or never."

I knock before I enter, once he gets a gun it's going to be a good habit to develop so he doesn't accidentally shoot me, and walk in.

His eyes open and then he cocked his head to the side and while minor I can see a hint of that curious and adorable kid I saw all those months ago, half way across the world.

"Hello Miss Ferro. I assume you are my handler then?" he asked me in a monotone but I saw the slight shadow of a smile.

"Yes. Yes I am," I say with relief as I hug him. He's there. Inside him I know that little boy is still there. He stiffens in surprise at the contact at first but relaxes. I don't know if it's the conditioning or his own relief, probably both, but I don't care.

"What is my name?"

"You're name is Shin. And call me big sis ok? From now on I'll be with you," I assure him.

I know it will take time but I'll try to restore him, but I will, bit by bit. Remind him every day he's not just some attack dog.

I'll make him as happy as I can.

I'm his big sister now and I'll be the best one I can be.

To make up for my sin of saving him.

To make up for my sin of corrupting him.

For turning him into _this_.

For that little boy with big blue eyes I met in some random bar six months ago.

For this little boy with big blue eyes I'll be taking care of from now on.

And if anything tries to stand in my way, I will unleash hell.

* * *

**AN**

Well here it is, the first Bonus Chapter. These Bonus Chapters, if I do anymore, will be shorter snipets of content. All will be back story on Shinji's life as a cyborg before he joins NERV.

Here I wanted to show how Shinji and Ferro first met and the horror that is cyborg conversion. For what it felt like I pulled some inspiration from the Halo game's SPARTAN program. I also wanted to show a bit more of Ferro's side of things as we haven't seen her much as well as hint at what she will do later in the story.

These Bonus chapters will contain backstory and hints of future events but nothing too important so are 100% optional.

If I do more of these the next 2, in no particular order will be:

**GUARDIAN ANGELS**: A short chapter covering one of Shinji and Ferro's missions to rescue a VIP in the European Alps. Said VIP will be appearing later on in the story as well.

**THE ROYAL CASINO**: More Shinji and Ferro. More of a classic spy style story taking place in a casino. Gambling, formal wear, Martinis shaken not stirred, assassinations and food.


	5. School Days! Part 2

**CHAPTER 3: SCHOOL DAYS PART 2 **(FRIENDS AND TENTACLE MONSTERS)

**Murakami Municipal Hospital, Tokyo 3 **

**Shinji POV**

"So how does it feel Shinji-kun?" Maya-nee asked me as we walked to the front lobby of the hospital dressed in her tan NERV uniform. It was a nice early morning day in Tokyo-3 today, birds were singing, the sky is clear and a cool breeze is blowing making me quite happy to be wearing the relatively thin short sleeved Tokyo-3 Middle School uniform today. Also since the school isn't strict with the uniform, I don't tuck in my shirt and I heard nothing from the staff in the week I've been attending and since I was so used to having a tie outside the home it felt…odd not wearing one so I decided to add it my uniform from today on.

Today it's a simple black.

Currently we're walking to one of the hospitals located in Tokyo-3's downtown core. I have to admit this city is amazing. When I arrived here the entirety of the downtown core was lowered down underground and suspended on the roof of the Geofront like silver stalactites, protected by around two dozen extremely thick armor layers. Now though the buildings, mostly tall skyscrapers, are standing tall and proud like towers of glass and silver.

"Hm," I hum as I walk right beside Maya-nee and twist my torso around getting a feel for the small handgun now holstered in an inside-the-waistband holster on my right side, hidden by my pants. "Good and comfortable. It shouldn't pose a problem while I'm at school."

What I'm referring too of course is one of the weapons Maya-nee and I have picked up at the armory before leaving NERV yesterday and the reason I don't tuck my shirt in, so I can draw with no issue. According to Misato-nee I shouldn't use the weapons we hadn't registered with NERV unless it's an emergency. To compensate I've bought some new ones from the requisitions officer with my pay, something I still haven't gotten used to since Ferro-nee _rewarded_ me but I was never paid like most working people are. Not that I wasn't rewarded well of course, Ferro-nee put aside a good chunk of her pay for use on me, something that has always touched me.

I was hesitant about it at first since Misato-nee seemed somewhat against having more weaponry in the house but Maya-nee assured me it was fine...although I may have used some mild 'sad eyes' on her first. The one Maya-nee is asking about is the one I currently have on my person, the small and iconic Walther PPK sub-compact pistol in a polished stainless steel finish, black textured plastic grips and fiber optic front and rear sights I had custom made at NERV and chambered in .380 ACP. While it only carries 6 rounds plus one in the chamber compared to my custom P226R's twelve plus one and the .380 ACP is much less powerful than the .45 ACP the gun is much easier to hide in a holster clipped to the inside of my waistband, allowing me to wear it under thin clothes with my small 14 year old frame. It's not meant to replace my beloved Sig but to give me something to use in an emergency with most of my weapons in my school bag or as a backup to my Sig when I'm properly armed.

I have to admit though it is strange using a gun with a bullet that could, arguably, do less damage than I can with one serious punch. If only it weren't for the heat here in Japan I could hide my Sig under a light sweater or vest like I did in Europe. As a result I've decided to load hollow-point rounds to improve performance against enemies without body armor. FMJ .380 ACP isn't really going to do anything against body armor anyway. Well at least the PPK's holster, even if it fits me tight to hide under the thin pants, is comfortable enough, got to love German quality.

Most importantly of all though I've always wanted to own a PPK ever since Ferro-nee showed me the James Bond movies. It was actually what I was going to ask for as a reward for my next big mission with her if I hadn't left for Japan.

"By the way why did you ask to come here so early?" Maya-nee asked me, "Now I don't mind driving you but do you think they'll let us visit this early in the day Shinji-kun? It's still an hour before visiting hours I think."

"I just want to ask when I can visit, I admit to be hoping to be fortunate and be able to visit now but I can go after school," I turn to Maya-nee and tilt my head to the side, "unless I'm needed at NERV?"

Maya-nee shakes her head and smiles down at me, "no Shinji, you can spend your time as you wish after school today."

I nod at her, "if we can visit now I'll just go home after school. Is there anything you want for dinner specifically? Or will you be having dinner with Dr. Akagi at NERV?"

"At home tonight," she then frowns at me for a bit, "you…don't have any plans for after school with any of your classmates or anything?"

I shake my head in the negative and she purses her lips, seemingly upset. Before I can ask her why she seems upset though and what I can do to fix that we enter the hospital, the familiar smell of disinfectant permeating the air.

I couldn't help but shiver as unpleasant memories surfaced.

_The smell of disinfectant and the coppery stench of blood, the beeping of machines was all I could smell and hear._

_Gods it hurt._

_Being cut open day after day, poked and prodded and stabbed by needles, strapped onto a table like a lab animal as the bright lights blinded me. The feeling of my bones shattering, nerves burning and fire flowing through my veins again and again and again. I still remember how I screamed until I couldn't even-STOP IT!_

_NO…the pain…it was too much…everything hurt! I…I…I…_

"Shinji," Maya-nee called, worry clear in her voice even to me. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," I answer shakily and I know she knew I lied and shame flooded through me like a tidal wave. She took one of my hands in hers, the contact filling me with warmth and I take a deep breath…1…2…3…and exhale.

I fucking _hate_ hospitals.

* * *

**Maya POV**

I give Shinji a worried glance. I knew he lied to me, which was worrying since he was _not_ supposed to be able to do that but what worried me most was…was how he froze when we walked through the hospital entrance. It was a flash, a moment, a split-second and if I wasn't watching him so closely and had learned more about him over the week he's been here at Tokyo-3 I would have missed it. What worried me most though was the look in his steel blue eyes. Most people found Shinji hard to read, even Misato struggled although she tries. The only person that seemed to have learned how to understand him is myself…and perhaps Pen-Pen. Honestly it's simple, Shinji's face may be and calm most of the time but his eyes spoke volumes to me and what I saw was…I fought a shiver as I held his hand and gripped it tighter.

I put it to the side for now as we continued to the front desk

"Good morning, how may I help you?" Asks the receptionist when we reach her desk.

"Ah, we're hoping to visit someone," I said, motioning to the both of us. "I know it's a little early but we're both very busy so I don't know when we'll get a chance to come again."

"I'm sorry ma'am," the lady apologized with a bit of a frown, "but it's outside of visiting hours, those don't start for another hour. Perhaps you could-"

I frown, I did _not_drive my little brother all the way out here just for him to waste his time. If the girl's still asleep or too busy then I understand, if she's free and willing to accept visitors though…

* * *

**Shinji POV**

Maya-nee interrupted her by taking out her NERV ID. That surprised me, I never thought Maya-nee would be the type of person to just flash her position like that. I hope Misato-nee isn't rubbing off on her, as much as I love Misato-nee she isn't a very good role model.

Still more surprising is the light glare Maya-nee is shooting at the woman. Personally I can't find her all that intimidating as I've seen much _much_ worse. I still remember Ferro-nee and I sometimes having to work with that man from the UN. What was his name again? Kati…no that's a female name…Kahn?...whatever, I still remember him trying to…what was the word? AH! Right, 'hit on' Ferro-nee and she would shoot him a really scary glare. Still, I couldn't help but be a little proud of Maya-nee, she struck me initially as too kind to hold my leash. I didn't want her to break after the first time she would have to be the one to actually order me to attack another human, after seeing her reaction to what I can do back in London I was worried. Now though I knew she was trying to be more 'worthy' to be my handler, trying to be tougher, she even asked if we can spend some sister-brother time at the range. It's...touching to see her making the effort.

That said why was it called 'hitting on' someone? It didn't involve him hitting at all, I should know since I would have torn the UN man's arm off and beat him to death with it if he even tried. Or just shot him, Ferro-nee wan't too happy the first time I did something similar due to the mess.

The scariest look I've ever seen to this day though had been by Ferro-nee after a mission a few years back. It was aimed at our superior at the time, but I don't really know why she was so angry that one time. All I had to do was use myself as bait for a target who liked children and then kill her in the middle of sexual intercourse, child's play really that mission.

So compared to all those past looks I've seen Maya-nee's came off more as…cute? Still, it seemed to work well enough on the receptionist as she paled to an unhealthy colour. Fortunately if she ends up ill at least she works at a hospital.

"O-oh, s-sorry ma'am, my apologies I didn't recognize your uniform," the woman stuttered and I can understand her. Tokyo-3 is centered around and owes its existence to NERV after all. NERV ID's aren't just for identification either, they double as licenses (for cars, motorcycles, guns, anything really), library cards, debit cards and security passes. Honestly it wouldn't be a stretch to say NERV owns the city. "Who do you wish to see? I…suppose I can let you s-see them if they're awake…ma'am."

"What's her name again Shinji-kun?"

"Ah," I turn to the receptionist, "Sakura Suzuhara."

"Let me see…" the woman types away at her computer as I eye the lobby, analyzing for possible routes of escape, places to set up ambushes, etc. I will probably visit a few more times, Ferro-nee always said a gentleman takes care of a lady after all, more so since I put her in here so I should get familiar with the building. "Ah yes, she's awake and finished breakfast a half hour ago. Let me call her room…yes, hello Suzuhara-san, good morning I have some people here wishing to visit you…yes…yes…I'll send them right up," she put down the phone and turned to us, "E-Wing, second floor, room 203."

"Thank you," Maya-nee thanked the slightly frightened woman with a smile before walking off, my hand still in hers. "Let's go Shinji-kun, don't want you to be too late for school."

* * *

**Maya POV**

As we walk down the hall, the surprisingly soft hand of Shinji in one of mine, I glance at him. He'd been staring at me with his head tilted a bit for a while now, ever since we walked away from the receptionist. It was one of his few cute habits giving Shinji a puppy impossible to say 'no' to with his big doe eyes and curious stare but having aimed at you for several minutes straight is starting to get a bit uncomfortable.

"Something wrong Shinji?" I ask him softly so as not to bother anyone.

"…Why?" He asked me as if I should understand what he meant 100% with just that one word question. Personal note: Go over normal person speaking patterns with Shinji later. "Shinji…can you…uh, specify?"

He nods, "Why did you act out of character earlier?"

"Ah," I murmur and I look into his eyes and I see something there, "you have an idea don't you?"

He nods yes.

"I just didn't want you to waste the time it took to come here so early. You woke up early, made breakfast for everyone early and even cooked lunch for Misato, me and yourself. Besides I think I should toughen up a bit, use what I have," I answer him, "is that what you thought was my reason?"

"The last part," he nodded and I smile. At home he tended to be fairly quiet so it's nice to know he seems to have at least tried to get to know me if not by conversation then by observation. It wasn't a…healthy or normal thing par se but it was better than no effort, just shows that he does love me back as his sister.

Even if some of that love is due to drugs…I mentally shake that off, can't do anything about it so I shouldn't dwell on it like Misato-san said.

"Besides," I start with a smile as an idea came to mind, "that frees up your schedule after school."

I turn to him, seeing him nodding. "Maya-nee wants something fancy for dinner then?"

I stifle a sigh at his logic, if I wanted something time costing to make I would just ask him and even help. Also I would need to supervise anyway, the last thing I need is Misato wanting to help when she notices him spending so much time cooking and making the food inedible. Shinji can't really say no to Misato even if he wants to.

"No Shinji," I give him a pat on the head, "I'm sure whatever you have planned will be delicious as always. No, what I want you to do is spend some time with your classmates, make some friends ok?"

I see him open his mouth and I know he wants to retort that it's unnecessary for his role and honestly I'm a bit surprised with how much he's willing to argue about small stuff like this considering how obedient he is most of the time.

Anyway I cut him off as we're arriving at the room.

"Shinji," I tell him, "just try to make friends ok? It would make me happy and I know Ferro-san as well."

Shinji nods, "maybe I'll try and visit Ayanami-san? We're also comrades," he suggested.

"I think that's a wonderful idea," I pat him on the head and he gives me a small smile as too many emotions flash in his eyes a split second for me to understand.

* * *

**Shinji POV**

I can't help but feel happy about how Maya-nee wants me to make friends outside of my cyborg friends and my one pen-pal. She seems to genuinely care for me and seems to be adjusting better than Misato-nee. Still, I clear my head of those thoughts for now as we're nearing our destination.

Soon we arrived at the room.

I had actually heard about Sakura Suzuhara from Misato-nee when I asked about if anyone had been injured during the battle with the Third Angel. Back when I first started doing missions with Ferro-nee she had made it a point to visit some of the civilians that had been hospitalized due to being caught in the crossfire or other reasons. We did that for several of my first working months under the cover of her being a nurse and me being a patient following her as she checked on them. She said that it is important in war, especially for people like myself who can kill a man barehanded with almost no effort, to keep in mind the human costs.

She said it's too easy to see people who had been hurt and killed due to us as simple numbers, unfortunate collateral damage, nothing but a statistic, more so with us being conditioned to think nothing of killing people. Because of that after the first few missions that I participated in that resulted in collateral casualties she would take me to see some of said casualties in hospitals.

So that I would never forget what carelessness can cause.

Granted collateral casualties are an extreme rarity for me, cyborgs are precision tools after all, razor sharp scalpels not sledge hammers but I saw the rationality of her actions. So now that I'm fighting a new different kind of war, with a weapon that can cause catastrophic damage with a single mistake I thought it would be a good idea to do what Ferro-nee had made me do once again.

While I'm not quite sure if I got what lesson Ferro-nee wanted me to learn on those visits all those years ago I do remember the pain and…I suppose regret on her face when children were involved. If anything I used the visits to remind me of my failure and fuel me to be a better weapon, to make my handler happy.

Luckily since I arrived at NERV around the same time the Angel had arrived Misato-nee had time to select a section of the city for the Eva and Angel to fight which meant that NERV and the city could spend all their efforts evacuating that one section of the city. Sadly one family had refused to leave, something about waiting for their parents before leaving for a shelter.

By the time the authorities had convinced them to move I had already engaged the Angel. Sakura Suzuhara had been injured when her brother who had been carrying her tripped as he ran out of the apartment building because of the ground shaking when I tore off one of the Angel's arms and it landed nearby.

Maya-nee opens the door and I go inside alone, closing the door behind me. The room was actually quite nice, not that large but not surprising since it is meant for a single person.

"Hello," I greet the girl in the middle of the sterile white room. Sitting up in her bed is Sakura Suzuhara herself. She is a small girl around seven or eight years old with short brown hair and dark brown eyes that are looking at me with obvious curiosity, wearing a white hospital gown.

"Good morning!" she cheerfully greeted me.

"Good morning Suzuhara-san," I great her with a polite bow...

"How do you know who I am? Who are you? Why are you here?"

* * *

**Sakura POV**

"First let me introduce myself. I am Operative Shinji Ikari of the European Union armed forces, currently assigned to NERV Headquarters. I'm here because I am the pilot of the…mecha that fought last week, I had heard you were injured and I wanted to apologize," Shinji-san said politely.

OH. MY. GOSH. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I stare at him wide eyed.

"Y-you…t-that night?" I point at him, "against the kaiju?"

"Yes I am," he said with his head tilted a bit to the side, like an amused puppy, although his face remained calm.

"Please sit!" I tell him with a blush as I point at the chair beside my bed. "And p-please call me Sakura! You saved me!" I try to remember what I was taught to do around guests… "W-would you like something to drink? I can call a nurse."

"It's fine," he shook his head 'no' and I can't help but be surprised by how…soft his voice is. "Saku-Suzuhara…san," he said with a ghost of a smile. I guess he's shy?

"Sakura is ok! Really!" I beam at him

"…Sakura-san then," he said much less awkward than 'Suzuhara', I remember papa saying in the west they call each other by first names so I guess that's why? I can't help but feel my cheeks warm though since here it…has meanings.

As he sat down I get a good look at my hero. He's handsome with shortish brown hair, _really_ pretty blue eyes and a calm expression on his face. I also noticed how he has a bag pack and is dressed in the uniform of my nii-san's school with his shirt untucked and a black tie around his collar that made him look a bit more mature.

"Thank you," I tell him with a bow, or as best as I can sitting up in a hospital bed and when I rise up I see…him looking at me curiously, head tilted again. "I-is something wrong?" I ask with a blush.

"No, I have never really been thanked by anyone before."

"What?!" How? Why? "But you're a hero! You fought that giant monster! It was so AWESOME!" I tell him and wave my arms, "Like when you threw your knife and then BAM! OH! Or when you did that power slide at the end! Oh my gosh it was _so_ COOL!"

I see him blink a few times before smiling...I think, kinda hard to tell, "just doing my job Sakura-san."

I blush again. "Aren't you young though?...OH! N-no offense!"

"None taken," he said honestly, "I'm the only can who can do it, so I fought. That is all."

"Wow.," he was so…_modest_. "You're a lot more mature than my nii-san, he's a bit of a jock. And he's so clumsy! Seriously what kind of sports nut can't carry a maiden properly?"

"Speaking of, how are your injuries?"

"Oh," I point at my left leg under the sheets, "Just a broken leg and some bruising. They said I can go home in a few weeks, I'll be out walking in no time!" Honestly though a broken leg is nothing, after getting to see a real giant robot do a backspin kick on a real kaiju I can honestly say: WORTH IT!

Sakura Suzuhara is now, as of this moment, the coolest girl in my year in Japan-no, in the world!

"That is good to hear...hm…when you get released is there anything you would like for me to get you as a present? As an apology."

"Oh no," I wave my hands in front of me, "I d-don't want to bother you. It's not your fault."

"I insist Sakura-san," he said with a ghost of a smile and I blush, my brother can learn a thing or two from him if he wants to date Hikari-san!

"W-well t-there is this cake buffet that I've always wanted to go to but it's kinda…expensive."

"Understood," he said before taking a notebook and a pen out of his bag, writing something on a page, ripping it and handling it to me. "My phone number, feel free to call me Sakura-san when you are discharged or you need assistance."

"T-thank you," I take the note, "but won't it be too much?"

"I make a lot of money from work."

"I…that makes sense," then I remember, "aren't you late for school?"

"It's fine. I needed to see how you were doing," I blush again. I think my face may be permanently red soon. "But I suppose I should go."

"Wait!" I shout before he can move, "c-can you please stay and talk a little longer? My aunt should be coming in an hour so…just until then…"

"As you wish, my lady," he said with a bow, like those English knights I've heard about.

* * *

**2 Weeks Later**

**Tokyo-3 Middle School**

**Shinji POV**

I can't help but wonder, as I listen to the old history teacher, how he was allowed to teach here. Honestly he was old enough to retire but honestly the biggest issue for me is all he does is talk about what life was like before Second Impact. The worst part is that he repeats the same lecture every time verbatim. Ahead of me Ayanami-san, her head still wrapped in bandages and her left arm in a cast, is just staring outside the window bored and I can't say I blame her.

As I wonder if I should try to download an ebook on my laptop when I get home to read in future classes and perhaps recommending Ayanami-san to do the same, she seemed to like reading whenever I visited her at NERV medical, a message notification popped up on my red school laptop.

[Player01: hey new kid, is what everyone saying true?]

I raise my brow at that vague question. Honestly there are a lot of rumours floating about the school concerning me. Everything from I'm English nobility looking for a wife to bring back home, which is preposterous since I so obviously look Japanese, to that I'm dating Ayanami-san ever since someone overheard me telling Horaki-san that I was going to visit my fellow pilot after school around a week and a half ago.

[Shin: And that is?] People say a lot of things.

When I responded there was a pause and I got the feeling that this person was somewhat annoyed with me and that last response, Ferro-nee did say I can come off as snarky sometimes. Or a smart ass, she did say I can be that too.

[Player01: Are you the pilot of that robot? The one that killed that monster three weeks ago?]

I raise my brow again, I thought this was already cleared up when I started school here.

Then again I didn't take the effort to learn anyone's name other than Horaki-san and Ayanami-san's names. Perhaps someone was missing on my first day? I frown a bit when I realized how rude that is, to not learn the names of my classmates. I'll have to ask Horaki-san for the class roster to fix that, Ferro-nee wouldn't be happy with me if she were to find out I've ignored my classmates names.

[Shin: yes]

[Player01: Meet me outside the school after school then new kid.]

I can't help but tilt my head to the side and wonder what he/she wants with me. I look up from my computer and look around to see who I might be looking for since whoever this is didn't even give me a name.

That's when I saw him. He was a boy my age, taller and appearing to be more muscular than me although I know that doesn't mean anything for me, I've killed far stronger people than him. I didn't know his name, no surprise there, but he had skin tanned by the sun and heat of Japan's never ending summer, short dark brown hair and black eyes and oddly enough he was wearing the school's black and white track jacket and track pants instead of the school's ordinary uniform. What really gets my attention is the glare he's sending my way, so full of hate and rage that I have to wonder if he was trying to bore a hole through me with it.

Being the gentleman I was raised to be though I gave him a respectful nod and turned back to my computer.

Now though it's hard to concentrate on the lesson…well harder than it was to concentrate on it already, after all I already know all of this. I can't help but ask who is he? And why is he seemingly so upset with me? I don't think I've done anything to earn anyone's ire so far really, other than rejecting a few girls who asked me on dates. I've tried really hard not to accidentally kill anyone these last three weeks and I haven't even fought anyone.

…Hmm, normal people can be so confusing.

Oh! Is this bullying? I've never experienced it for myself before. I really hope that's not the case, if I snap and kill him by accident I'm sure I'll get in trouble for it.

* * *

**After School**

With the day over I pack up my things and put my red laptop in my bag and prepare to leave to go-

"Ikari-kun!" I feminine voice calls out to me and I turn around to see Horaki-san walking up to me and I stop. She looked over her shoulder to where that angry boy was sitting earlier but I saw he had left ahead of me already, stomping all the way out the door. "Are you going out to meet Suzuhara?"

I blink in surprise, "is that what his name was? How did you know Horaki-san?"

"Ah," she mumbled before blushing a bit, "well…a-as class rep I can see any conversation using the messenger app on our laptops as long as it happens in the classroom. I..ah saw Suzuhara walk in and he…didn't look happy when he saw you so I was worried."

I nod in understanding, honestly a little surprised and happy that she cared enough for me to be worried for my safety. I am after all both shorter and physically less imposing than Classmate Suzuhara.

Even if it's unnecessary.

"I do plan to meet him," I tell her truthfully, she's my superior here of sorts and I don't see the harm in it.

She pursed her lips and looked to think for several moments before turning back to me, "fine but I'm going with you."

"If you wish," I nod and walk out of the classroom, Horaki-san following behind me.

* * *

After making our way downstairs to the school's ground floor I can't help but wonder...why does the name Suzuhara sound familiar?

It feels like the answer is right in front of me but I just can't remember, how annoying.

As we reach the door I open it and hold it open.

"Ladies first," I said to Horaki-san and I saw her blush a bit as she hesitated in her step, odd.

"T-Thank you," she said with a jerky nod and made her way out the door with me right on her tail, "not used to having a gentleman around here Ikari-kun."

"Your welcome," I replied before frowning slightly. I have always been told by Ferro-san that Japanese people have impeccable manners to the point that she had found her Japanese ex-girlfriend too 'stiff' at times for her liking, odd.

"Something wrong?"

"No," I shake my head as I lead the way again until I see two people waiting under the tree I like to eat under.

There standing underneath the old sakura tree is the person who contacted me in the first place, dressed in the school's track suit and an unfriendly scowl on his. Beside him though was another familiar face, he was a boy slightly shorter than Classmate Suzuhara so that made him my height, he had messy looking light brown hair, brown eyes and freckles. He was quite scrawny so I guessed he wasn't that physically fit and he's dressed in the same uniform as I me but with the shirt tucked in and large round framed glasses. If I remember correctly his name is Kensuke Aida, the girls in class had told me quite a lot about him and how he tries to take photos of them, something I can't help but frown upon. I do have to wonder if the boy has a voyeurism fetish considering he seems to always carry a camera with him, even right now he has it in hand, filming us all with a smile on his face.

I can't help but blink as I notice something, with the sakura petals gently floating down around them and swaying in the breeze Classmates Aida and Suzuhara looked like a lovely couple enjoying the spring weather after school. Hmm, now that I think about it I have overheard that Aida is very close friends with a boy who had been absent until today…just like Classmate Suzuhara.

Feeling curious I turn to Horaki-san who is now walking beside me with a frown on her face and I whisper to her.

"Horaki-san, question."

She blinked a bit in surprise, I suppose she was thinking about something and turns to me with a smile on her face. If spending time with her has taught me anything it's that she's always happy to help people, a very noble attitude that I can't help but admire.

"What is it Ikari-kun?"

"Are…" I take a glance again at the couple under the tree, "are Classmates Aida and Suzuhara in a romantic relationship?"

"WHAT?!" she squawked quite loudly and I couldn't help but cringe before she turned a most interesting shade of red. "W-why w-would you say s-something like t-that?!"

I cock my head to the side a bit as I look at her curiously, ignoring the curious glance from the couple under the sakura tree. "Curiosity," I state before nodding in my two classmate's direction, "I have heard they are very close from classmates. They also appear like a couple right now don't they? Standing close together under a sakura tree, petals dancing around them. I have heard that is something couples do here in Japan."

"That's the most I've ever heard you say in one sentence…" she murmured absently as she stared at the two in question, frozen in place so I stop as well and stand beside her, waiting for her response. "N-no they're not…at least I hope not," she said, murmuring the last part.

She didn't sound too sure tome, it seems that the possibility of a romantic relationship between the two is not yet out of the question so for the moment I'll just assume there is one to avoid potentially offending the two. Love is a beautiful thing, no matter what form. If Ferro-nee never saved me I would never be here and alive after all.

I nod and continue walking over to the other two, ignoring the seemingly stunned class representative behind, my curiosity satiated for the moment.

"Good afternoon Classmate Aida, Classmate Suzuhara," I greeted them, making sure to give each of them a respectful nod.

"Afternoon man," Classmate Aida responded while his friend(?) continued to glare at me which was quite rude of him.

"Is something the matter?" I ask Classmate Aida but to my surprise it was the person beside him who answered.

"Something the matter?" he parroted me as he took a few steps forward and I backtrack a few steps and frown. His body posture, the way he walked and his facial expression all screamed 'aggression' to my years of experience guarding Ferro-nee, although I admit it felt a bit strange for myself to be the target, that almost never happened until an open fight broke out. "Something the matter?! YOU!" he jabbed a finger at my direction, "you're the matter new kid!"

I look at him curiously, still not really understanding what this is all about.

"Sorry new kid," Classmate Aida chimed in over his friend's shoulder. "You see this guy loves his sister and she was she was hurt in that battle three weeks ago," he explained before Classmate Suzuhara moved into action, sending a punch to my face.

"SUZUHARA! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Horaki-san shouted from behind me.

I sidestepped it easily of course.

"Ah-ha!" I snapped my fingers in realization, dodging another slow punch. "You're the older brother of Sakura-san."

"YOU! Who gave you permission to call my sister by her first name huh?!" he screamed as he threw another punch and I took a step back and to the side.

Then it hit me, this is the 'school yard fight' I've heard about isn't it?

What was it that Misato-nee told me about these again…oh, right.

No killing.

I can't help but sigh slightly, keeping them alive is so much more annoying.

But orders are orders.

* * *

**Hikari POV**

"SUZUHARA!" I scream when I saw the much bigger boy throw a punch at Ikari-kun, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

To my surprise though he dodged it, seemingly without effort, the same stoic, almost bored look on his face. Still I can't help but frown and start to make my way over to them. Honestly, what is that idiot DOING?! Ikari-kun was just doing his job, I understand that he's upset, I have a little sister of my own and if she were to get hurt I would be really angry too but I would still think things through!

Ikari isn't exactly the biggest student in Tokyo-3 Middle School, I admit he looks quite fit but he's relatively lean compared to Toji who's tall for his age and the school's resident jock and top athlete. And with that dodge he's seemed to have become even more angry.

Aida seems like he's not going to be doing anything as he just stands there, filming, stupid smile on his face. Oohh, I am going to have words with him later!

Still I have to stop this senseless fight-

"Ah-ha!" I hear Ikari-kun quietly exclaim (how is that even possible?) and snap his fingers, the most emotive I've seen him. "You're the older brother of Sakura-san."

How does he know Sakura-chan?

"YOU! Who gave you permission to call my sister by her first name huh?!" Toji snapped and he threw a punch I knew would do real damage.

And Ikari-kun dodged it easily again, stepping back and to the side.

That's when I saw it.

The change in Ikari-kun. It was almost unnoticeable, his facial expression never changing from the usual calm he showed but I saw it in his eyes. The boredom that seemed to always fill them at school, or the curiosity that lit them in the oddest times was gone.

They were cold, calculating.

A cold shiver went down my spine and my body screamed at me to run.

I was about to tell Toji to stop as I remember that Ikari is trained military right? Just because he's smaller doesn't means he's weak.

Then it happened.

Toji threw a punch faster and harder than all the ones before aimed for his smaller opponent's face, a grin of victory on his face.

Unlike with all the punches before though Ikari didn't dodge. Instead he moved so fast I barely caught it, he stepped into Toji's attack, cocking his head to the side to dodge the punch before in an instant, grabbing the extended wrist and sending a knee into Toji's gut and before Toji could retaliate he was thrown like a toy face first onto the ground. Ikari was on top of him in a flash, Toji's captured arm now held behind his back. Honestly I barely caught it, only years of watching my sister's kendo tournaments letting me barely see what happened and even with that I'm sure no one I know, not even my kendo champion sister, could've reacted to how fast he moved.

Silence descended onto the yard with only Toji's hard breathing audible.

*Cough* *Cough* Toji wheezed from the strike to his stomach as the smaller student kneeled on top of him, the same bored look on his face but to my surprise and relief his eyes didn't have the sub-zero cold gaze he had in that split second just a moment ago. Instead his head was cocked to the side, the action I've quickly come to connect with a curious Ikari-kun, a habit he strangely shares with Ayanami-san.

"Damnit!" Toji started with a snarl once he caught his breath. "Let go of me new kid!"

"Why would I?" Ikari asked with…curiosity? Although it probably came off as smug to the boy he was kneeling on.

"So I can hit you for my sister!"

In response Ikari-kun just cocked his head to the other side, "question, Classmate Suzuhara."

"Why would I answer you?!" he screamed back with a glare but the young pilot just seemingly ignored him.

"Why are you so upset?"

"Didn't you hear?!" Toji tried to force his way out from under him but Ikari-kun put pressure on his arm causing him to cry out a bit in pain before stopping. "Ow! Damnit, you're the reason she's in the hospital!"

"I understand that," Ikari-kun replied, "but if I remember correctly all sectors of Tokyo-3 were given ample notice. The Angel was detected before it made landfall by UN and Maritime Self-Defense Force units. Evacuation notices were then sent out to all settlements between it and Tokyo-3."

"What are you-" Toji started but he was cut off as Ikari continued, his eyes turning hard again.

"Why did you not evacuate with your sister, Classmate Suzuhara? A shelter entrance was close by."

"I was waiting for my dad to get back from work!"

"Irrelevant. Your father is an adult, your sister's protection should be paramount. Combat in Tokyo-3 commenced at 0700 Japan Standard Time, you were given ample time to evacuate."

"Damn you!" Toji struggled again and instead of restraining him again Ikari-kun just frowned and shook his head.

"How…disappointing."

"What was that?!"

"I have visited your sister several times," Ikari-kun explained and everyone's eyes widened in surprise at the revelation. "She speaks highly of you. I expected better than this, blaming me for your failure out of childish frustration," Ikari-kun said and I couldn't help but cringe. The tone may have been his usual soft almost monotone but I could see the words hit home on Toji's face and he stopped struggling, defeated.

*Bzzzt* The sound of a vibrating phone cut through the short silence like a knife through butter and Ikari-kun pulled his phone. Then the sound of someone walking on grass got my attention and I turned to see Rei Ayanimi walking up to him. Ikari-kun noticed this and got up, Toji not getting up causing Kensuke to finally do something but watch and he checked up on his friend.

The two pilots spoke quietly each other but I couldn't hear what they were saying.

* * *

**Shinji POV**

"An Angel was detected," Ayanami-san stated in her usual soft monotone. "We are needed at NERV."

I nod at her and glance back at my cell phone, a sleek black smartphone, it was recommended by Misato-san since she used the same model due to its toughness.

[From: NERV

Bogie detected by Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels.

MAGI confirmed blood-type blue. Bogie designated 4th Angel, codename: Samshel.

First and Third Children are to report to NERV HQ.

Section-2 transport ETA to Tokyo-3 Middle School 15 minutes.]

"I have a plugsuit in my bag," I say to my fellow pilot as I put my phone away, "I'm going to go change before Section-2 arrives."

"Understood, I will wait here."

I nod at Ayanami-san before I turn back and walk to Horaki-san who is looking at the prone form of Classmate Suzuhara with a frown on her face. I think about asking her if I can change in the classroom but I decide not to, the classroom shouldn't be locked yet.

* * *

**Hikari POV**

I can't help but sigh as Toji started to cry on the ground, I may care about him and we may have been friends since pre-school but I can't help but be disappointed. Toji has a good heart and is a good person overall but he tends to not really things through so I do hope that he at least learns from this experience because Ikari-kun really did make a good point even though I don't think he meant to put the blame on Toji as I just don't see the class' second most calm student doing something that malicious as much as just pointing out the logical flaws in what Toji was saying.

"Aida look after him for me," I sigh and he nodded, "I'm going to apologize to Ikari-kun."

"Come on man," I hear Kensuke, "he is a trained pilot, there's no shame in…"

I tune them out with a shake of my head and I turn around to fi-huh?

Where did Ikari-kun go?

"Horaki-san-"

"EEP!" I scream and spin around…to see Ikari standing right there behind me.

"Is something the matter?" he asked me with his head tilted to the side and I shake my head in the negative.

Then I see how he's dressed. In front of me Ikari stood dressed in one looks to be like a tight form fitting latex wet suit. It was mostly a light grey in colour with red and black highlights while the numbers '01' is printed on his chest in bright white. I couldn't help but blush at how it hugged his body, his lithe body…damn puberty.

"Are you not well Horaki-san?" Shinji asked me and I shake my head profusely to clear my head.

*Ahem* I clear my throat before I look back at him, "I-I'm fine Ikari-kun. Um…why are you…uh, dressed like that?" It's…it's…indecent!

"This is what we wear in our Evangelions," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, Ayanami-san nodding as she walked up to stand beside him.

I frown in confusion, why would he-

"No…" I murmur as I glance back and forth between the two odd people in front of me, "a…another monster attack?"

Shinji nodded while, surprisingly, Ayanami-san chimed in, "NERV designates them as Angels."

Oh…that's…weird. Why would the agency the United Nations created to fight these monsters call them Angels…WAIT! I shake my head clear again before slapping my cheeks slightly, get in the game Hikari!

"Why hasn't the evacuation alarm been sounded yet?" I ask.

"The Angel is still over the ocean," Shinji explained as a trio of black SUVs with stopped in front of the school gate, men and women dressed in black and wearing black shades pile out of the front and rear SUVs.

"I suggest preparing to evacuate," Ayanami-san said as Ikari-kun turned around and walked towards the middle vehicle, two black clad men holding the doors open before she too follows behind him.

"I agree," Shinji commented before glancing at the two other boys, "I leave them in your capable hands."

"Leave it to me" I give them both a smile which they both nodded in response. "Oh and good luck!" I shout at them and Shinji turns around saying a soft 'thank you' while Ayanami-san just gave a curt nod which actually surprised me a bit, I expected her to just not do anything.

I sigh and hope for the best, especially with Ayanami in that condition…I don't think she's fit to fight, at least Ikari-kun walks around with a calm confidence…or he's just not worried so there's that at least. I then turn beside me where Kensuke is helping Toji stand back and I sigh at them.

"Alright you two," I start, giving the two the best glare I can give them, "you both are giving me a hand as punishment for picking a fight with Ikari-kun! I'm going to the staff room to get any teachers still around while you two go round up any teachers or students staying behind doing club activities and head to a shelter. Understood?!"

"Yes ma'am!"

* * *

**Evangelion Cages, NERV HQ**

**Shinji POV**

Sitting inside my entryplug I feel the same churning feeling in my gut you feel when on a moving elevator as the plug is inserted into my recently repainted Unit-01. I hear the whir of an electric motor and I felt that strange sensation of the plug spinning down into the Evangelion's spine, followed by the soft 'thud!' of the armor sliding into place.

I make myself comfortable, causing my new plugsuit to squeak as it rubbed up against the pilot's seat. The new suit design was mostly light grey to serve as some kind of camouflage in the urban streets of Tokyo-3 and the halls of NERV just in case I ever need to fight through them, while there are also some black and red outlines. Honestly I don't know why the plugsuit had the extra colour but I chose not to question it as Maya-nee personally handled the redesign of it and it still felt as comfortable as before. The biggest reason though I'm not complaining is the water tight holster for a NERV standard issue Glock-17 built into the right thigh and the three water tight magazine pouches for the gun on the left thigh.

We cyborgs always feel naked without a gun so it feels nice to know that if I need it I have something to defend myself with.

Soon warm LCL fills the plug and I inhale, filling my lungs with the liquid. I do have to say it's unpleasant, while my brain stops registering the smell and taste of warm blood soon enough I still find myself disliking the initial moments of getting in my Eva. The display then flashes to life and I start my Eva myself so the bridge crew can focus on preparing the city.

* * *

**Command Bridge, NERV HQ**

**Maya POV**

"Alright I'm here!" Misato shouted as she ran into the bridge behind me and Aoba and Hyuga at our stations at the front of the Command Bridge. "Status report!"

"Angel ETA to Tokyo-3 is one hour!" Hyuga announced and I can't help but be troubled with how much faster this one is than the last one, not a surprise since this one is _flying _and not walking but it's still worrying.

"The last one took 15 years and this time it's 3 weeks," I heard the Vice-Commander comment and I know he's talking about Second Impact. Civilians may think it's caused by a meteor impact but everyone at NERV knows it was an Angel, it's why we have to stop them now.

To prevent a Third Impact and the death of _billions._

"NERV personnel are at battle stations level 1," Aoba informed the Captain. "Tokyo-3 defenses configuring for anti-air intercept," Aoba announced before I look down at my screens to see Shinji relaxing in his cockpit.

"Unit-01 is activated and online. Synch ratio holding steady at 71%," I tell her and I hear Akagi-senpai murmur in surprise at the slight rise in his synch ratio. I was amazed too but I kept it to myself as Hyuga chimed in.

"Building Blocks E and F have been retracted, downtown core now locked down and secure!" he announced, meaning all the buildings in the downtown core are now underground and safe, or as safe as they can be with an Angel attacking, inside the Geofront like when Shinji first arrived. "All shelters reporting in! Civilian evacuation complete! Medical personnel, emergency crews and engineering teams are on stand-by!"

"Cage teams reporting in! Unit-01 is ready for deployment! Medical teams are on stand-by!"

"Good," Misato-san nodded, "what's the word from the UN?" Hyuga answered her question.

"JSSDF and UN forces are moving AA units here."

"Will they arrive in time?"

"…No ma'am."

"Damnit," Misato cursed and I had to agree with her.

"Status on our defenses?"

"All of Tokyo-3's surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery systems are online," Hyuga answered and even if that sounds impressive I know it could be so much more. In reality Tokyo-3's defenses aren't finished yet with only 40 percent of the planned defenses of missiles and artillery having been built.

Damn, if only this Angel came a few weeks later. With the last Angel attack we got a surge of funding which. Add that to the light damage to Tokyo-3 and the moderate damage suffered by Unit-01 we had enough funds to plan and build more weapon emplacements which include a pair of rail transported lasers.

A notification on my screen gets my attention, "ma'am message from UN command."

"What is it?"

"They want us to deploy an Evangelion."

"Pfft," Misato-san scoffed, "like we _weren't_ already planning to do that."

* * *

**Shinji POV**

"Shinji-kun," Maya-nee's face popped out on a window off to my left side, "the Angel is approaching the firing range of our weapons so be ready to deploy."

"Understood," I reply simply.

"I'll send you a visual feed from one of our UAVs," she said and another window opened to my right showing the Angel from an aerial view of the Angel as it flew over the green tops of trees.

And…it was _strange_ thing to say the least. It looked vaguely…phallic actually. This Angel wasn't like the last one at all, the last Angel was vaguely humanoid with two arms and two legs placed on its body about where you would expect. This Angel had a long thick cylindrical body and an even thicker vaguely arrow shaped head with two eye looking growths on top, aside from size it's not the most threatening looking enemy.

Still I know this is potentially a much more difficult foe. The last Angel's humanoid body bent and moved mostly like what I'm used to fighting, people…white hot spears that shoot out of its arms aside of course. This one though had no limbs apparent from the UAV's aerial view aside from two small stumps located on opposite sides of its body where you may expect to find the arms.

"Angel is approaching weapon's range in 30 seconds," Maya-nee announced and I watch with rapt attention, trying to figure out what I can learn from how this Angel will respond to the bombardment.

I've actually read through what kind of firepower Tokyo-3 has and is scheduled to have. It wasn't necessary, as a pilot all I was asked to know is the location of elevator doors, deployment buildings, the different armament and support buildings as well as the different entrances to the Geofront but I read it out of curiosity.

So when the Angel approached firing range and all hell broke loose I wasn't surprised.

The Angel approached from the east, having flown over Sagami Bay. As it flew over a valley with Mt. Myojogataka to the north and Mt. Asama to the south, large sections of Mt. Myojogatake's southern face and the northern face of Mt. Asama split open to reveal dozens upon dozens of hidden missile silos. Smoke and fire poured out of around three dozen of these launchers as almost 40 of the XSPM-777 Longbow missiles screamed towards their target. They were impressive things, the Longbows are massive long range dual-purpose surface-to-air/surface-to-surface missiles developed by NERV 04 in Berlin and manufactured by NERV 06 in China for the sole purpose of fighting the Angels.

And they didn't seem to do much good as, one by one, the missiles that packed enough power in their two-stage HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) warheads to sink one of the Iowa-class battleships in one hit, slammed into the Angel's AT field.

Needless to say the exploded _spectacularly_ in a storm of fire and heat…to no affect. The Angel seemed to just ignore it, not even reacting at all unlike the last one which at least reacted by doing _something._

As it continued to advance the missile silos on Mt. Hakone's northeastern face fired six Longbow missiles but they didn't do anything either but explode harmlessly against the shining yellow hexagonal barrier.

Unfazed the Angel started to approach the city's outskirts and the top of some buildings opened to reveal launchers for Type-3 Chū-SAM Kai surface-to-air missiles. Some buildings are nothing but facades and their whole body split open to reveal that they're nothing but vertical launchers. What they housed are NERV made XSPM-707 Crossbow missiles which are basically a much smaller short-range high-maneuverability version of the Longbow missile designed to fire at targets close to or inside Tokyo-3 itself.

Missile after missile screamed through the sky, streaking the air with great long lines of smoke and flame.

Joining this impressive amount of missile firepower are dozens of automated 155mm multi-purpose guns that emerged from the roofs of many buildings that filled the air with flack as missiles rained down once more. Again, flash and flame lit up the window on my screen and the crack of explosions filled the plug but the Angel still advanced.

It was actually quite pretty to watch but again it did nothing as the AT Field blocked all incoming projectiles.

I can imagine Classmate Aida being happy watching this though, he seemed very interested in military hardware.

"Damn waste of tax payer money," I heard Misato mumble in the background of Maya-nee's screen and I also see Maya-nee agree with a nod, a frown on her face. I too had to agree from what I've seen of the footage. "Do they get off on this?"

Eventually the Angel got close enough to trigger the close-range defenses as turrets with dual 35mm Oerlikon auto-cannons fired and unleashed a storm of high explosive cannon fire…but I doubt they would do anything even _without_ the AT Field, as-is they flashed and fizzled to no affect.

"Well," Maya-nee started and I turned to her, "ready to deploy Shinji-kun?"

* * *

**Shelter D-20, Tokyo-3**

**Hikari POV**

"Nee-san," my little sister Nozomi called as she sat beside me. "Is the monster attacking again?"

"…Yes," I answer her, no use lying. Currently we're in one of the shelters close to Tokyo-3 Middle School, it's one of the larger ones due to it being the primary shelter of Tokyo-3 Primary, Middle and Highschool along with the surrounding homes and businesses that catered to the students. Nozomi is here with me by one of the walls where the remnants of my class, the ones who hadn't gone home due to club activities or other reasons, which is around half of us is close by where I can watch them.

"Are…are we going to be ok?"

I take her small body and bring it close and wrapped my arms around her, "we'll be fine Nozomi-chan."

"How do you know Nee-san?"

"_Well_," I pull back a bit and give her a bit of a smirk, "one of my classmates defeated the last one."

She gasped, eyes wide and sparkling with childish wonder, "really?!"

"Yeah, really."

"Can I meet him?!"

Huh, isn't that a question? While I doubt Shinji-kun would say no, honestly he may just say nothing but he's just so polite he may just say yes. He did hold open the door for me, and I had hear of him doing that regularly for the other girls in school, I always tended to leave before him for lunch and to go home so I guess that's why I've never seen it happen before. That said I'm a little reluctant but…he _did_ say he visited Sakura-chan in the hospital…I turn back to my little sister and her puppy dog eyes and I can't help but sigh.

"I'll ask him," I tell her with a bit of an amused smile, "but no promises."

"Yey!" she cheered and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Class Rep," I heard Toji's voice, sounding normal to my relief, and I turn around and see him standing with Kensuke

"Yes Suzuhara-kun?" I ask him as Nozomi settles on my lap.

"We need to go to the toilet," he said, motioning to both himself and Kensuke.

"Fine, go," I sigh.

* * *

**Eva Cages, NERV HQ**

**Shinji POV**

"Ok Shinji-kun," Misato-nee spoke to me, standing behind Maya-nee and leaning forward over her so the camera can see her. A new window opens on my left, above the window showing the UAV feed, showing Tokyo-3 and the surrounding area. "We're going to launch you and have you intercept this thing in the city's perimeter, south-east sector." A blip on my map appeared indicating where I'm being deployed as well as the Angel which had made a slight course change south towards Lake Ashi south of Tokyo-3. "When you get up there we'll have an armament building ready to go with a Pallet Rifle, use and take out the Angel just like we trained. Understood?"

"Understood," I nod before I grunt as Unit-01 and I rocket up the launch track, pressing me into my seat. Still I can't help but smile a bit, the second time and being launched is still fun, like a roller coaster.

As the warning beeps that I'm nearing the surface I ready myself, unlike last time I don't unlock the restraints as I'll be deploying in cover.

Soon enough I feel the sudden stop as Unit-01 enters a deployment building which immediately opens and the sight of the white, silver and glass of Tokyo-3. As the elevator restraints are unlocked I move out.

"Unit-01 deployed," Maya-nee announced for the bridge crew, "AT Field expanded."

As I move into the shadow of a taller building I keep an eye on the UAV feed and my mini-map. Taking cover behind nearby building I wait for an armament building across the street, which is basically a deployment building but instead of launching an Evangelion up from the Geofront these launch weaponry. The armament building's façade opens and collapses upward like an accordion revealing the Type MM-99 Evangelion Large Caliber Assault Rifle or the 'Pallet Gun' for short. It's a bullpup style assault rifle that heavily resembles the experimental Steyr ACR in appearance, where the cage teams got the name 'Pallet Rifle' I have no idea.

Grabbing the weapon an ammo counter appears in the corner.

[Rifle Equipped: 50 Rounds]

I turn back to the mini map and watch the Angel approach and turn down the street I'm hiding on the other end of and I pop out and extend my AT Field like I was instructed, the firing computer display lined up the crosshairs and I pulled the switch.

The Pallet Rifle barked to life firing a burst of an alternating pattern of custom NERV made 209mm depleted uranium tipped tungsten APFDS rounds and two-stage HEAT rounds at 800 rounds per minute.

* * *

**Shelter D-20, Tokyo-3**

**Hikari POV**

Where are they?! They're guys, what takes them so long in the bathroom? I swear those two are going to be the death of me first picking a fight with Shinji-kun and now disappearing during…a…battle…

"Oh no," I murmur to myself as an idea came to me, "they can't be that stupid…"

Oh who am I kidding?!

I pick up the sleeping Nozomi on my lap and walk over to Kodama who's nearby with her high school class.

"Kodama," I call to my older sister.

"Hm?" she turns to me, brow raised.

"Watch her," I hand Nozomi over and rush off, ignoring my older sisters questions.

Oh I am going to _kill_ those two!

* * *

**Tokyo-3**

**Shinji POV**

The kinetic APFDS rounds slammed into a shimmering barrier while the HEAT rounds exploded, doing nothing but kicking up smoke as the Angel stopped. It shifted and 'stood' up, its long thick body now vertical while it's 'head' turned down to look at me. It's massive, even taller than my Unit-01. As it stood it revealed 8 skeletal insect like legs arranged in 4 pairs that moved around uselessly with a sound of bone on bone. What really got my attention though is the orb made of red crystal on the top of the body where it met the head.

[Rifle Equipped: 45 Rounds]

I now had my target and my connection to my Eva meant that the targeting computer readjusted my point of aim and realigned the crosshairs onto the orb, the weak spot of the Angels which I had been told is called an S2 Organ or core. It was their power source, their heart.

The crosshairs aligned and I pulled the switch and fired in bursts, being mindful not to obscure the target with smoke and debris.

Again they did nothing, splashing against the AT Field.

[Rifle Equipped: 25 Rounds]

I adjust my grip on the rifle, holding it with Unit-01's left hand by the barrel and I activate one of my pr-

The Angel advanced and a tentacle emerged from each of the 'stumps' which kind of made it look like a giant flying purple penis with tentacles, like the ones from that DVD cover I found in Misato's room when I was cleaning it for her.

It would have been somewhat comical if they weren't burning an angry _white hot._

Crap! I jump back as the white hot whips lash out at me at lightning fast speeds but my superhuman reflexes means I didn't get hit.

It lashed out at me again and I roll to the side across the street and into cover of another building and stow my Progressive Knife away, melee combat would be too dangerous. This was what I was worried about, other than instincts and reflexes I have nothing to fall back on here, I didn't even learn anything from the Tokyo-3's defenses as the Angel just ignored last Angel was around as strong as Unit-01, so this one probably is as well and this time it has completely inhuman in anatomy.

I peek-shit! Two whips of light fly at my cover and I jump back, the whips cutting through the building like paper. I land and roll backwards and I crouch and snap up the Pallet Rifle. I had no time to let the targeting computer lock on and line up so I aimed on instinct and pulled the switch-

[Error No Lock]

What?-"Argh," I grunt in pain and jump back on instinct, farther away this time. Landing in a crouch I look down when I land to see it had cut my Pallet Rifle in half, dropped between me and the advancing Angel. The Angel had also seemed to have cut through Unit-01's AT Field like butter along with some of the cranial armor if the burning on my cheek is any sign. _This_ was what I was afraid of when i was told that the Eva's ranged weaponry all used targeting computers. I will definitely bring this up again with Dr. Akagi, she can't deny my suggestion is 'unwise' anymore.

Then a red flashing warning catches my attention.

[WARNING: Umbilical Cable Severed!] and with that Unit-01 switched to internal battery, meaning I'm _very_ limited time.

"Maya-nee I'm moving to get to an umbilical station," I announce and I move Unit-01's arms down onto the mountain I've landed to get up, careful not to smash the red tori of the nearby shrine.

I was about to jump and dash up north to the closest umbilical station but I heard the whips flying through the air and look up to see the Angel and I catch the whips, one in each hand.

My palms burn and the LCL around them starts to bubble as the whips burn against the armor covering Unit-01's hands, steadily melting and vaporizing the thick but flexible armor while the kinetic energy knocks Unit-01 onto its back.

Well I have to admit this is the trickiest fight I've ever had. Still, I need to move as the battery times down and as I look around for something to use-what the hell?

Right beside my Eva is Representative Horaki, leaning on a shelter door like she'd just closed it.

"Maya-nee?" I ask her, knowing she can see what I can. I don't know what to do and when that happens training dictates I turn to my handler.

"Misato-san!" she called over.

"Who is that?"

"MAGI searching…one of Shinji-kun's classmates."

"What is she doing here?!" Misato-san murmured before turning to me. "Shinji-kun lock in your Eva's controls and let her in the plug," she ordered and I nodded.

"Wait!" Dr. Akagi shouted but I cut her off, not caring what she says. I press the command lock switch, locking the Evangelion in place before pulling the lever that partially ejects and opens the plug and the power shuts off as it worked.

* * *

**Hikari POV**

I stand stunned, leaning on the shelter door after pushing Toji and Kensuke through. I couldn't help but stand in awe at the massive mecha in front of me. It was mostly made of dull silver armor with neon green and black accents, the dull silver armor giving it the image of a god of war made flesh.

"HEY!" a sound came out of it, a woman it sounded like, snapping me back to reality. "HURRY UP AND GET IN!"

The armored back then slid back while a long white capsule emerged where a hatch opened and a ladder rolled out and I run for it, following the woman's advice.

* * *

**Shinji POV**

*Splash*

Hearing that and hearing someone panic from being submerged in LCL I decide to give them some advice.

"It's okay to breathe it in Representative Horaki," and I hear her gulp before hearing the sound of bubbles, her air leaving her lungs. "Please be quiet Representative Horaki," I tell her as I reinsert the plug and the plug flashes to life and my hands start to burn immediately as I see the Angel above us. I disengage the lock on Unit-01 as I heard a gasp come from behind me but she stayed quiet which I'm grateful for.

"Shinji-kun!" I turn to Maya-nee, "Misato wants you to make a temporary retreat through elevator hatch H-5." I turn to my mini-map to see a blip on where she wants me to go. "Having two people in the cockpit is interfering with your ability to synch with Unit-01, drop her off at the cage before you re-engage."

"Roger," I respond and with a grunt I brace Unit-01's legs up against its chest, pull the Angel towards me with its whips and kick it while letting go, sending it flying. Now that I have space I disengage and dash towards hatch H-5. "Maya-nee open the hatch," I look behind me to see the Angel in pursuit and closing _fast_, "have the elevator stop part way up. No time to wait."

"Understood," she responded and I saw the hatch open in front of me and I jump down and go into free fall, the hatch closing behind me.

*BANG!*

Unit-01 slammed into the waiting elevator which immediately descended while I turned Unit-01 around and leaned it back, locking into the elevator restraints. I sigh a bit as I relax into the seat before turning around to see a frightened looking Representative Horaki.

"Hello," I give her my best attempt a calming smile, I don't think it worked though. "Representative Horaki are you unharmed?"

* * *

**Evangelion Cages, NERV HQ**

"I'll take care of her sir," a member of my cage team informed me with a smile on her face. Her name is Alexandria Aleksandrovna, a beautiful tall blonde woman with blue eyes and a seemingly permanent smile on her face, dressed in the tan overalls of the cage teams with a black '01' on her breast. She's a young genius and the leader of my cage team, holding the rank of Sergeant at NERV. "Umbilical is attached and you're ready to rock and roll, sir."

"Thank you Sergeant," I nod at her as I close and retract the plug which is soon filled with warm LCL.

"Shinji-kun," Maya-nee's face opened in a window while my mini-map opened as well as the feed from the UAV, showing the Angel hovering over hatch H-5 doing nothing. "Ready to deploy?"

I nod before Misato-nee popped her head in, "Shinji-kun you're going to need to close in to get rid of that AT Field, when you pulled it towards you to kick it away you actually neutralized its AT Field and even gave the core a superficial crack." She frowns, "and with the force you hit it with it tells us it would take too long to cut with your Progressive Knives safely."

I think back, I remember when I kicked it away and it chased me…it was odd I wasn't caught. The speed it traveled…it should have caught me. "Misato-nee," I call to her as Unit-01 reaches the launch platform. "Did I stun it with that kick?"

Her eyes widened and Maya-nee seemed to watch her screen, probably a replay before nodding at Misato-nee who turned back to me, "it did. You have an idea?"

I give her a nod, "send a Gatling Gun to armament building A-7."

"Right away," Maya-nee nodded and got to work before Misato-nee spoke up.

"Unit-01 LAUNCH!"

I shoot up for the second time today but I don't let myself enjoy it, choosing to ignore it, I concentrate on my plan. It was a bit insane and a tad bit childish I have to admit but I _am a _child, as odd as I may be compared to normal kids. Still, I could see it working.

Looking up to see I'm almost at the open hatch I disengage the elevator restraints and when the elevator slams to a stop I jump into the air and I see the Angel under me. I had to get around its two defenses, the AT Field and those whips, a lethal combination really as the AT Field protects against ranged attacks while the whips are lethal in close-quarters.

I land on top of one of the taller buildings, I quickly crouch down and leap up again, aiming to come down right on top of the Angel.

I crash into the Angel's AT Field for and it quickly shatters like glass from a mix of my own AT Field and the sheer energy of a falling Evangelion before smashing on top of the Angel.

Not giving it a second to react I kick off the massive arrow shaped head while deploying both Progressive Knives from both shoulder storage pylons and land behind the Angel. I grab them both and hold them in a saber grip and the two PKN-01C Progressive Knives hummed to life, their blades glowing white hot and slash at the two stumps that generate the energy whips.

The two blades cut through the alien flesh like butter which surprised me as the core and AT Field seemed tougher than the first Angel I fought. One stump bled light blue blood, covering half a city block in red blood. That was odd why wasn't the other-shit! The other arm was already regenerated!

Clever girl, with it's tough AT Field it didn't _need_ a tough body. If something _did_ get through it then as long as the core was alive then it could regenerate its body in a flash.

The newly regenerated stump arm blasted a whip right for my abdomen but I dodge to the side, dropped both Prog Knives and grab it with both hands, burning through what little armor I had left. Quickly I unhinged Unit-01's jaws with a 'snap!' and lunge forward and crunch down and yank back as hard as I could and I heard Unit-01 _growl_ in response as _something_ in the Eva seemed to respond.

*SNAP!*

A wet snap followed by the sound of splashing blood soon followed but I ignored it as I lunged forward and grabbed the Angel from behind, hugging the thick body with both of Unit-01's arms. "Open the armament building now!"

"Roger!" Maya-nee shouted and I hear it open.

"Grh," I grunted as I pulled up on the Angel before lifting it up and slamming its head down in a suplex.

*Crash!*

I heard the pavement crack and break as windows shattered and cars were smashed as the wrestling move powered by the strength of Unit-01 and the weight of the massive monster stunned it. I rolled upright and quickly turned to the armament building to see a massive Gatling style six-barreled cannon, the EM-226 Evangelion Portable Revolving Multi-Barrel Machine Gun, nicknamed the 'Gatling Gun.'

It was a thing of beauty.

I grabbed it and Unit-01 held the massive weapon the size of a building like I do a light rifle.

[Gatling Equipped: 150 Rounds]

I aimed the weapon at the core of the stunned Angel and I remembered a quote from one of my favorite movies. I feel a rare spike of childish whimsy flash though my mind and wonder if I should say it?

Then _something _responded…it wasn't a voice but it felt like something coaxing me to say it.

I could feel it encouraging me.

'Go ahead,' it seemed to say without words, 'enjoy life.' I could sense whatever it was felt amused by me. I should want to deny this mystery entity but for the life of me I couldn't, the presence felt so _right_, I knew somehow that it would never want to hurt me.

So I listened to it as the targeting computer aligned the crosshairs on the core and I smirked as I spun up the Gatling Gun's barrels, filling the air with the 'whir' of the massive motor.

"Hasta la vista...baby."

Then I pulled the switch.

I smiled as the Gatling Gun roared and fired massive NERV made 440mm shells, larger than even the 16 inch guns on the Iowa-class battleships, at 900 rounds a minute. Massive shell casings dropped to the ground, crushing cars as I fired. The monstrous armor-piercing high explosive shells, relying on sheer mass and velocity to penetrate the target before exploding, ripped apart the tough core, shredding and smashing the red crystal, coating the street in red dust and blood.

I could feel the same presence 'smile' at my happiness and I held the trigger until it went click.

The Angel was dead and I heard the bridge celebrate, Maya-nee and Misato-nee congratulating me on my second kill, reminding a bit of how fighter pilots tally theirs.

It was a tough fight, much tougher than the first one. More collateral damage was caused and while the damage to Unit-01, relegated to a cut on the side of the head and burned hands, is arguable less _I_ received more damage this time around with the whip cutting so deep that I now have a cut on my cheek and my hands feel slightly burned.

There's also that strange...entity that seemed to want to talk to me which was odd to say the least.

Still, have to admit, it was a fun fight.

I wonder if Maya-nee will let me buy a Gatling Gun?

**NEXT ON "TOY SOLDIER" - CHAPTER 4: STRANGE FRIENDSHIPS **(AND SECRET MOVES)

**AN**

**HOLY SHIT THIS IS LATE I AM SO SO SORRY**

So yeah, SUPER late update and I have no real excuse. My computer broke, erasing a lot of my work. Got it fixed but wanted to update my other stories. Started writing THIS and then computer broke AGAIN and I got so frustrated I didn't get to writing this until February. I actually meant to update this so much sooner in early March but I've rewritten and torn apart this chapter probably 7 or 8 times until I came up with something I was happy with.

As for the chapter itself I kinda wanted to start moving away from canon a bit. From the beginning I wanted this terminator Shinji to have different friends, at least at first and you can see it here. I also wanted to delve a bit more into the psychological damage cyborgs have, their conversions erase memories prior to conversion but not necessarily the conversion itself, something I've kinda shown to be really painful and horrific so I thought it would show some scars on their psyche or at least give them a dislike of hospitals and doctors in general.

As for the fight how did you guys like it? I really wanted to show a fight where Shinji is kind of being held back by Eva's systems as well as showing that the Angels are so alien that they are still a very valid threat to him and that of course goes for the later more powerful Angels as well.

Next chapter SHOULD come out faster, hard to beat this shitty record. Anyway it will cover the effects of Shinji trying to actively befriend Rei via flashbacks as well as the next appearance of SEELE.


End file.
